THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


HAMPTON 


AND 


RECONSTRUCTION 


BY 

EDWARD  L.  WELLS 

Author  of  "Hampton  and  His  Cavalry  in  '64' 


'A  Heart  to  resolve,  a  Head  to  contrive,  and  a  Hand  to  execute."— -Gibbon. 


Columbia,  S.  C. 

The  State  Company 

1907 


Copyright,  1907 

by 
THE  STATE  COMPANY 


PREFACE 

I  venture  to  ask  a  favor  of  the  reader — that  he  do  what  I 
myself  often  shirk,  it  must  be  confessed — read  this  preface. 
You  would  naturally  infer  from  the  title  of  this  volume 
that  it  is  the  biography  in  part  of  a  man  whose  career  was 
very  remarkable.     So  it  is,  but  it  is  also — or  is  intended  to 
be — something  more.     You  may   be  inclined,   at  the   first 
glance,  to  suppose  that  it  can  possess  no  interest  for  the 
present  generation  except  as  "ancient  history."     If  you  will 
read  the  narrative,  I  think  that  you  will  find  this  first  impres- 
sion an  error.     This  sketch  is  part  of  the  biography  of  a 
people,  the  American  people,  at  a  most  important  period  of 
«2    its  life.     The  past  is  the  parent  of  the  present  and  of  the 
ft    future  of  a  people's  life,  as  it  is  with  every  man's  life.    Hered- 
>:    itary  inclinations,  good  and  evil,  influence  a  people's  career 
'd    just  as  they  influence  that  of  an  individual,  and  they  should 
3    be  equally  subject  to  the  guidance  and  restraint  that  experi- 
ence imposes  through  conscience.     Although  this  is  an  ac- 
w    count  of  events  happening  many  years  ago,  yet  the  causes 
^   producing  them,  at  present  in  the  background,  are  as  full  of 
™  vitality  now  as  then — they  are  sleeping  lions.     Where  treas- 
§  ure  is,  near  at  hand  will  always  be  lurking  thieves.     Because 
you  may  be  sailing  on  summer-seas,  free  of  care  and  with  no 
<5  thought  of  tempests,  you  do  not  doubt  that  the  ocean,  now  so 
\  harmless-looking,  will  some  time  or  other  be  lashed  into  angry 
:   waves  mountain-high  by  blasts  at  present  slumbering  in  the 
"    caves  of  the  winds.     So  will  the  demon  of  storms  reappear 
from  time  to  time  in  your  political  summer-seas.    You  cannot 
;)    prevent  this  by  ignoring  it,  but  you  can  save  yourself  from 
shipwreck  by  profiting  by  the  experience  of  others.    The  mis- 
eries of  Reconstruction  were  rendered  possible  only  by  the 
subversion  of  representative  government — "the  consent  of  the 
governed" — without  which  all  government  is  simply  despot- 
ism, however  disguised.  This  thing  can  never  again  take  place 
at  the  South  under  the  same  pretext — the  negro — for  that 
humbug  has  been  exploded  by  the  unanswerable  logic  of  the 


iv  PREFACE 

reductio  ad  absurdum.  But  wily,  unscrupulous  politicians, 
hungering  for  plunder,  will  sooner  or  later  manufacture  other 
pretexts  to  "fool  the  people."  Next  time  the  North  or  West 
may  become  the  scene  of  such  planned  wholesale  burglary. 
When  that  time  comes,  the  afflicted  section  will  sorely  need  a 
political  heir  of  the  qualities  of  Hampton,  and  also  sorely 
stand  in  need  of  the  experience  taught  to  the  Southern  people 
by  their  affliction. 

It  may  perhaps  be  said  that,  granting  all  so  far,  the 
account  of  this  period  should  be  written  only  by  one  who 
has  grown  to  manhood  since  its  close,  for  he  would  write  in 
a  more  "judicial  spirit,"  as  the  phrase  is,  than  an  older  man. 
But  this  view  seems  to  me  wrong,  and  a  little  reflection  will 
convince  anyone  of  its  error.  The  keen  interest  that  ani- 
mates an  observer  of  contemporary  events  stamps  on  his  mind 
exact  impressions  of  facts,  and  these  impressions  are  durable 
as  brass.  If  he  be  fairly  intelligent  and  educated,  and  be- 
comes an  earnest,  conscientious,  lifelong  student  of  the  sub- 
jects involved  with  the  facts  graven  on  his  mind,  he  is  likely 
to  arrive  at  approximately  correct  conclusions.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  mere  academician,  cold,  unimpassioned,  totally  inex- 
perienced in  the  heartbeat  of  sympathy  evoked  by  the  per- 
sonal sight  of  human  misery,  of  "the  agony  and  bloody  sweat" 
of  his  fellowman,  who  undertakes  to  gather  materials  and 
impressions  from  lifeless,  moldy  volumes,  nine-tenths  of  the 
contents  of  which  consist  of  ex  parte  testimony  from  the  side 
that  was  the  stronger  in  numbers,  is  like  an  artist  attempting 
to  make  a  faithful  portrait  of  a  dead  stranger  by  glancing  at 
his  corpse ;  or,  rather,  like  a  surgeon  dissecting  a  cadaver  and 
assuming  to  analyze  and  set  down  on  paper  all  the  glorious 
characteristics  that  the  immortal  soul,  which  formerly  inhab- 
ited that  now  senseless  clay,  may  have  possessed.  But  when 
he  who  has  been  a  personal  observer  of  "times  that  tried 
men's  souls"  becomes  conscious  that  he  is  an  old  man,  stand- 
ing on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  very  well  aware  that  he  must 
soon  render  a  truthful  account  of  his  stewardship,  he  finds 
that  his  own  vain  aspirations,  animosities  and  prejudices 
fade  away  into  nothingness,  but  that  the  noble,  unalterable 
principles  of  right,  the  basic  elements  of  the  social  compact, 


PREFACE  v 

loom  up  before  his  eyes  in  all  their  vast  proportions.     That 
man  will  not — dare  not — misrepresent. 

The  responsibility  for  Keconstruction  as  carried  out  has 
been,  so  far  as  I  know,  ascribed  only  to  negroes  and  carpet- 
baggers or  to  the  refractory  spirit  of  the  South,  unwilling  to 
accept  the  legitimate  results  of  the  war.  But  neither  of 
these  had  anything  whatever  to  do  with  it  except  as  deaf, 
dumb,  blind  instruments  in  other  hands.  It  was  not  the 
outgrowth  of  racial  antagonism,  nor  was  it  a  war  legacy. 
The  cause  was  but  the  pirate's  instinct  of  a  few,  deluding  the 
many,  to  wreck  the  ship  of  state  in  order  to  plunder  the  cargo 
and  rob  the  passengers ;  and  this  could  be  accomplished  only 
by  murdering  the  pilot,  representative  government.  How 
and  by  whom  the  murderous  dagger  was  used  will  be  made 
clear  by  these  pages.  It  will  also  be  made  clear  how  the 
State's  resurrection  from  the  grave  was  brought  about  by 
Wade  Hampton,  and  that  in  the  pacification  of  the  entire 
country,  in  the  restoration  of  fraternal  feeling,  no  man's 
handiwork  was  so  widely  beneficent  as  his;  that  he  was  in 
the  truest,  most  patriotic,  most  exalted,  and  most  all-embrac- 
ing sense  of  the  term,  a  Union  man. 

E.  L.  W. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Family.     Early  Life.     Characteristics.     Secession 1 

II.     War 36 

III.  Reconstruction  In  the  Southern  States* 69 

IV.  Reconstruction  in  South  Carolina - (&& 

V.     Hampton  Nominated  and  Elected  Governor 101 

VI.     The  Campaign  after  the  Election 148 

VII.     Inauguration    of    Governor    Hampton    and    Beginning    of    His    Adminis- 
tration    168 

VIII.     President  Hayes  Restores  Constitutional  Government 192 

IX.     Declining  Years  and  Death 209 


FAMILY,,  EARLY  LIFE — CHARACTERISTICS — SECESSION 

Statesman,  yet  friend  to  truth !  of  soul  sincere, 
In  action  faithful  and  in  honor  clear  ; 
Who  broke  no  promise,  serv'd  no  private  end, 
Who  gained  no  title,  and  who  lost  no  friend. 

— Pope. 

Wade  Hampton,  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  was  born  on 
March  28,  1818. 

Before  attempting  to  describe  his  personal  characteristics, 
as  exemplified  by  his  career,  or  his  individual  antecedents, 
it  is  necessary,  for  a  proper  understanding  of  the  man,  to 
examine  into  his  ancestry.  This  is  not  done  here  in  the  nar- 
row spirit  of  the  "family-dendrologist,"  for  nothing  is  more 
worthless  by  itself 

Than  a  successive  title,  long  and  dark, 
Drawn  from  the  mouldy  rolls  of  Noah's  ark, 

but  because,  like  all  others  of  the  human  race,  he  was  the 
necessary  product  of  hereditary  traits  far  more  than  of  the 
evolution  of  environment.  His  irrepressible  instinct,  as  a 
soldier,  to  join  in  "freedom's  battle  once  begun" :  his  undying 
belief  in  representative  government,  so  that  "Give  me  liberty, 
or  give  me  death"  did  not  express  to  him  merely  a  burst  of 
fiery  eloquence,  but  contained  a  solemn,  sober  conviction; 
these  were  as  much  parts  of  his  natural  self  by  inheritance 
as  were  the  clear,  calm,  well-balanced  mind,  and  amiable 
disposition,  the  exalted  moral  nature,  and  the  magnificent 
physique,  which  he  possessed. 

Hampton  first  saw  the  light  in  his  mother's  former  maiden- 
home  in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  the  mingled  blood  of  Saxon 
and  Celt,  of  Briton  and  Huguenot,  had  built  up  a  civilization 
and  culture  inferior  to  none  in  America,  or  anywhere  in  the 
mother  countries.  But  on  his  paternal  side  he  came  of  that 
sturdy  stock,  large  and  vigorous  in  frame,  active  in  mind 
and  body,  brave  men,  and  true  women,  the  Virginians,  who 
did  such  patient  work  and  gallant  deeds  in  winning  empire 


2  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

from  the  wilderness,  in  extending  the  boundaries  of  the 
United  States  from  the  Atlantic  over  the  Appalachian  bar- 
rier, across  the  Mississippi,  tapping  the  Rockies,  through  the 
treeless  deserts,  and  planting  the  flag  of  their  country  on  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific,  and  spanning  the  territory  from  Canada 
to  the  Rio  Grande,  wherever  they  went  carrying  with  them 
the  principle  of  representative  government  and  manly, 
generous  honor. 

Anthony  Hampton,  the  great-grandfather  of  our  Wade 
Hampton,  was  among  the  first  settlers  from  Virginia  in  the 
frontier  of  what  was  then  the  English  colony  of  South  Caro- 
lina, locating  his  family  on  Tiger  River  in  what  is  now 
Spartanburg  County.  In  1776  the  British  allied  themselves 
with  the  Indians  against  their  own  flesh  and  blood,  and,  as  a 
strategical  measure,  in  connection  with  the  attack  on 
Charleston  delivered  by  their  army  on  Sullivan's  Island, 
thundered  by  their  fleet  at  Fort  Moultrie,  let  loose  the 
savages  to  ravage  and  murder  in  the  frontier  settlements, 
where  cruel  misery  was  thus  produced.  Anthony  Hampton, 
and  Mrs.  Hampton,  as  well  as  one  son,  Preston  by  name,  and 
an  infant  grandchild,  were  butchered,  the  other  sons  being 
absent  from  home  and  thus  escaping  the  fate  of  parents  and 
brother.  Wade  Hampton,  the  grandfather  of  our  Hampton, 
was  serving  with  the  army  defending  Charleston  at  its  capitu- 
lation in  1780,  and  was  paroled  and  took  "protection."  It 
was  not  long,  however,  before  the  terms,  to  which  the  British 
stipulated  to  adhere  in  accepting  these  paroles,  were  violated 
by  them,  and  this  the  Americans  correctly  considered  as 
releasing  them  from  their  promise,  on  the  legal  and  moral 
ground  that  a  contract  broken  by  one  side  operates  as  a 
release  to  the  other  from  obligation  under  it.  So  Wade 
Hampton  again  drew  his  sword  in  the  American  cause,  and 
was  to  be  found  from  that  time  foremost  among  the  militia  in 
the  interior  operating  against  the  British.  They,  in  spite  of 
having  been  the  first  to  annul  by  non-observance  the  contract 
of  surrender,  did  not  in  theory  recognize  the  right  of  the 
paroled  to  resume  their  arms,  and  killed  many  of  them,  when 
captured,  without  even  the  formality  of  a  drum-head  court- 
martial,  but  the  Americans  took  care  to  pay  back  the  debt 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION 

thus  created  in  similar  coin,  which  kept  this  practice  within 
certain  bounds.  Hayne  thus  fell  a  victim  at  the  hands  of  the 
British.  But  it  imparted  a  character  of  ferocity  and  despera- 
tion to  the  contest,  and  a  general  exasperation,  which  served 
to  bring  good  hard  fighters  to  the  ranks  of  the  "Rebels,"  and 
thus  proved  indirectly  a  benefit  in  the  end.  The  Hessians, 
hired  by  the  English  to  subdue  the  Americans,  were  given 
almost  free  license  to  plunder  friend  as  wrell  as  foe,  and  this, 
too,  had  a  happy  effect  on  enlistments.  But,  besides  this,  an 
organized  system  was  put  into  effect  by  which  the  property 
of  "Kebels"  was  divided  up  among  the  British  regiments  like 
piratical  booty,  the  officers  receiving  according  to  rank,  and 
the  privates  their  pro  rata  share,  nor  were  they  at  all  partic- 
ular to  inquire  whether  the  belongings  of  the  Americans  thus 
pillaged  under  general  orders  did  not  belong  to  the  "loyal." 
So  this,  also,  proved  a  most  excellent  recruiter  for  the 
"Rebels"  and  sharpened  their  swords  mightily.  The  people 
formed  militia,  and  partizan  bands  continually  attacking  and 
cutting  the  British  lines  of  communication  from  the  coast 
with  the  garrisons,  which  they  tried  to  maintain  in  the 
interior,  destroying  convoys  as  well  as  posts,  and  injuring 
them  in  all  possible  ways,  dispersing,  when  hard  pressed  by 
too  great  numbers,  but  always  to  assemble  anew,  and  strike 
again  and  again.  They  possessed  advantages  in  being  better 
acquainted  with  the  topography  of  the  thickly  wooded 
country,  and  were  much  abler  horsemen  than  their  antag- 
onists, and  very  deadly  with  the  rifle  at  a  range  at  which 
the  smooth-bore  musket  of  the  regular  "shot  wild,"  and  com- 
paratively harmlessly.  These  militia  and  partizan  bands 
were  of  a  very  much  higher  class  in  military  efficiency  than 
would  usually  be  understood  by  the  title.  The  colony  of 
South  Carolina  had  been,  from  its  commencement,  a  foster- 
child  of  the  wilderness,  and  a  step-daughter  of  the  Mother 
Country.  Separated  from  the  northern  colonies  by  inter- 
minable miles  of  trackless  forest,  and  cut  off  by  sea  at 
Hatteras,  the  reputed  hotbed  of  tempests:  with  three 
thousand  miles  and  more  of  ocean  dividing  her  from  the 
parent,  who  at  best  looked  upon  her  as  a  hewer  of  wood  and 
drawer  of  water  to  administer  to  her  "sheltered  lives" :  the 


4  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

colony  found  it  necessary  to  rely  upon  herself  for  protection 
against  the  Indian  at  her  doors,  and  the  fierce  relentless 
Spaniard  lurking  ever  watchful  to  the  southward.  So  an 
effective  militia  system  had  been  the  result — not  mere 
effeminate  "trained  bands" — and  it  has  left  a  permanent 
impress  upon  the  people  "to  the  manner  born,"  which  is 
apparent  even  today.  It  was  these  militia  and  partizan 
bands  that  practically  reconquered  the  State  from  the 
British,  with  scant  support  from  anywhere  but  from  North 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  who,  by  this,  and  its  indirect 
consequences  did  very  much  to  gain  the  independence  of  the 
thirteen  States.  They  saw  vastly  more  service  than  did  the 
Continentals,  who  did  not  possess  the  same  spirit  and 
endurance. 

It  was  in  this  school  of  war  that  the  elder  Wade  Hampton 
first  learned  and  then  taught.  In  proportion  to  the  numbers 
engaged,  the  losses  sustained  and  inflicted  there  make  war- 
fare of  the  present  day,  with  huge  masses  of  troops  of  all 
arms  and  enormous  amounts  of  ammunition  expended  at 
long  range,  and  a  fearful  hurly-burly  of  sound,  with  but 
small  percentage  of  casualties,  look  tame.  In  South  Carolina 
there  were  during  the  war  recorded  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  engagements.  It  was  here,  too,  that  he  learned,  from 
object  lessons  burned  into  the  soul,  not  from  academic  dis- 
cussions, the  far  more  important  but  corelated  lesson  of  the 
inestimable  value  of  representative  government ;  that  it  was 
not  a  matter,  as  the  cynic  says,  of  indifference  who  rules,  but 
of  paramount  importance.  He  had  seen  his  aged  parents, 
and  brother,  butchered  by  allies  operating  under  the  orders 
of  the  British:  he  had  witnessed  the  nation,  which  had 
rejected  for  themselves,  by  the  expulsion  of  James,  the 
dogma  of 

The  right  divine  of  kings  to  govern  wrong, 

endeavoring  to  impose  upon  his  own  people  this  exploded 
fallacy  grotesquely  inappropriate  to  the  surroundings,  and 
the  halter  and  fire  and  sword  and  pillage  chartered  to  per- 
petuate it  on  the  virgin  soil  of  his  country.  All  this  was  a 
ten  thousand  times  more  efficient  mode  of  teaching  the  value 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  5 

of  representative  government  than  could  be  had  in  a  century 
of  post-graduate  courses  in  the  best  of  modern  universities. 
Heart  and  brain  charged  full  of  convictions  thus  acquired 
were  transmitted  in  proportionate  intensity  to  the  grandson 
of  the  elder  Wade. 

Of  Wade  Hampton,  the  Kevolutionary  hero,  we  hear  in 
1781,  as  abandoning  all  his  property  to  the  British  and 
Tories,  and  raising  a  Regiment  of  Cavalry  for  service  under 
General  Sumter.  Just  before  this,  he  had  been  arrested  by 
the  British  and  was  being  taken  to  prison  by  a  party  of 
twelve  men,  when  he  wrenched  away  from  two  of  them  their 
muskets,  and  effected  his  escape.  He  notably,  from  this 
time,  figures  in  the  hot  fights  continually  raging.  He  was 
with  Sumter  on  his  expedition  in  Rawdon's  rear  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Charleston,  sweeping  up  the  enemy's 
detachments  and  breaking  up  his  power.  Hampton,  with  his 
own  command  and  some  other  troops,  performed  the  exploit 
of  penetrating  to  the  Quarter-house  within  four  miles  of 
Charleston — nearer  than  anyone  had  gone  since  the  sur- 
render— and  capturing  there  after  some  resistance  the  entire 
guard,  and  taking  them  along  as  prisoners,  leisurely  with- 
drawing. After  the  completion  of  this  expedition  to  the 
low-country,  Hampton  was  left  in  command  of  Sumter's 
Brigade  until  the  arrival  of  a  ranking  officer. 

At  the  important  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs  Hampton  com- 
manded Sumter's  Brigade  after  the  wounding  of  his  ranking 
officer.  He  performed  signal  service  at  a  very  critical 
juncture  against  the  enemy's  right  flank,  thereby  saving  the 
day  for  the  American  army,  and  also  later  covered  Greene's 
withdrawal  by  a  brilliant  and  successful  charge.  He  was  in 
fact  the  hero  of  the  day.  He  had  now  become  one  of  the 
most  famous,  trusted,  and  successful  of  the  American  leaders. 
Of  the  Legislature  convened  in  January,  1783,  he  was  a 
prominent  member.  That  was  an  assemblage  remarkable,  in 
that  almost  every  representative  had  earned  a  title  to  legis- 
late for  his  country,  not  by  the  arts  of  the  politician,  but  by 
the  achievements  of  the  soldier  in  defense  of  the  government 
of  the  people.  After  the  war  he  served  one  term  in  Congress, 
from  1803-5.  On  the  apprehension  of  war  with  England  in 


6  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

1808,  he  went  to  New  Orleans  as  colonel,  U.  S.  A.,  and  in  1813 
was  made  major-general,  operating  on  the  Canadian  frontier. 
After  the  war  Hampton's  sword,  turned  into  a  plough- 
share, became  to  his  country  an  even  more  beneficent  instru- 
ment of  peace  than  it  had  been  conspicuously  a  safeguard  on 
the  battlefield.  He  was  one  of  the  first — probably  the  very 
first — to  have  the  foresight  to  grasp  the  idea  of  the  para- 
mount importance  of  cotton  to  his  own  section,  and  to  the 
world  at  large,  and  planted  it  on  a  very  extensive  scale.  If 
he  wrho  makes  two  ears  of  corn  grow  where  one  had  grown 
before  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  mankind  in  a  greater 
degree  than  the  foremost  "statesmen,"  what  shall  we  say  of 
the  man,  and 

Where  sleeps  the  poet  who  shall  fitly  sing 

The  source  wherefrom  doth  spring 

That  mighty  commerce  which,  confined 

To  the  mean  channels  of  no  selfish  mart, 

Goes  out  to  every  shore 

Of  this  broad  earth,  and  throngs  the  sea  with  ships 

That  bear  no  thunders ;    hushes  hungry  lips 

In  alien  lands ; 

Joins  with  a  delicate  web  remotest  strands ; 

And  gladdening  rich  and  poor, 

Doth  gild  Parisian  domes, 

Or  feed  the  cottage-smoke  of  English  homes, 

And  only  bounds  its  blessings  by  mankind ! 

At  his  death  he  left  a  large  fortune,  and  rich  estates  in 
Mississippi  and  Louisiana,  as  well  as  in  South  Carolina.  He 
was  a  man  of  strong  individuality  and  will;  one  destined 
to  make  his  mark  anywhere.  But  he  seems  also  to  have 
taken  in  all  matters  peculiarly  broad,  liberal  views,  unin- 
fluenced by  prejudice.  It  is  related  of  him  on  good  authority 
that  on  one  occasion,  when  political  feeling  was  running  high, 
he  astonished  people  by  voting  for  a  party-opponent  for  an 
office  in  an  educational  institution,  on  the  ground  that  the 
candidate  was  the  best  fitted  for  the  duties  of  the  place,  and 
that  the  character  of  the  studies  pertaining  to  the  chair 
was  entirely  outside  the  realm  of  politics. 

His  son,  Wade  Hampton,  in  his  youth  was  an  officer  of 
dragoons  in  the  United  States  army,  and  served  with  dis- 
tinction at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  on  the  staff  of  Jackson, 
as  inspector-general.  He  therefore  prominently  associated 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  7 

his  name  for  all  time  with  the  most  remarkable  battle,  taken 
all  in  all,  of  which  there  exist  authentic  records.  There  are 
others  looming  through  the  mists  of  time,  the  vague  reports 
of  which  are  as  mythical  as  Homeric  legends,  which  might 
perhaps  stand  some  comparison  with  it  if  the  accounts  of 
them  were  true  and  unexaggerated,  but  such  cannot  be 
assumed  to  be  the  case,  whereas  the  facts  of  New  Orleans  are 
definite  and  undisputed. 

After  Napoleon  was  shut  up  in  Elba,  the  English  nation 
had  a  breathing  spell  and  leisure  to  give  undivided  attention 
to  their  war  against  the  United  States,  and  they  put  forth 
strong  efforts  in  that  direction.  Among  other  things,  an 
expedition  was  fitted  out  to  capture  New  Orleans,  and  thus 
wrest  from  the  United  States,  and  permanently  hold  either 
for  herself  or  Spain,  the  vast  region  of  which  the  Mississippi 
was  the  only  line  of  transportation  and  New  Orleans  the  sole 
outlet  before  the  introduction  of  railways.  Their  fleet  con- 
sisted of  one  man-of-war  carrying  eighty  guns,  five  carrying 
seventy-four  each,  five  of  somewhat  lesser  armament,  four- 
teen other  men-of-war  and  gunboats,  manned  by  10,000  sail- 
ors, and  a  large  number  of  transports  and  schooners.  These 
war- vessels  were  commanded  by  the  elite  of  the  British  navy. 
The  army,  numbering  over  10,000  men,  was  made  up  almost 
entirely  from  the  flower  of  Wellington's  Spanish  veterans, 
commanded  by  his  brother-in-law,  Sir  Edward  Pakenham, 
also  a  Peninsula  hero,  who  led  the  storming  party  at  Badajoz 
and  the  splendid  charge  at  Salamanca,  for  which  latter 
exploit  he  received  knighthood.  The  three  generals  next  in 
rank  had,  too,  brilliant  war  records.  A  number  of  civil 
officials  were  also  brought  along  to  administer  the  country, 
which  they  counted  upon  conquering. 

Jackson  had,  at  first,  to  oppose  this  formidable  array  but 
700  United  States  Regulars  and  about  1,000  State  militia, 
which  was  all  that  the  general  government  was  able  to  supply 
him  with  after  putting  Commodore  Patterson  in  charge  of 
the  naval  defenses  and  river  forts — which  were  antiquated 
and  weak — and  two  armed  schooners  and  five  smaller  boats. 
But  Jackson  set  about  in  earnest  raising  troops  through  his 
personal  influence  and  the  prestige  which  his  name  had 


8  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

acquired,  assuring  the  inhabitants  that  "no  British  soldier 
should  enter  the  city,  save  as  prisoner,  except  over  his  dead 
body,"  and  all  knew  that  this  meant  sober  truth,  not  boasting. 
Fortunately  the  Creoles,  at  that  time  none  too  friendly  to  the 
United  States,  were  eager  to  fight  their  hereditary  foemen, 
the  English,  and  therefore  all  the  local  organizations 
responded  with  great  alacrity  to  the  call  to  arms.  There  were 
even  some  companies  of  quadroons,  numbering  in  all  330  men, 
which  volunteered,  and  were  assigned  to  duty.  The  negroes 
seemed  to  be  imbued  with  almost  as  much  enthusiasm  as  the 
whites,  and  did  effective  service  with  the  spade  on  the 
defenses.  But  Jackson's  chief  reliance  was  on  his  old  com- 
rades, the  riflemen  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  whom  he 
was  energetically  hurrying  forward  to  give  him  indispensable 
reinforcements. 

Jackson  reached  the  city  of  New  Orleans  on  December  2, 
1814.  The  English  effected  their  first  advance  and  developed 
their  plans  on  December  23  by  getting  into  position  a  por- 
tion of  their  force  on  a  plantation  on  the  river  a  few  miles 
below  the  city,  where  Pakenham  came  on  the  following  day 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  remainder  of  his  command. 
Jackson  established  his  outer  line  behind  a  canal  and  em- 
bankment confronting  his  enemy,  and  about  three  miles 
distant  from  the  city,  with  his  right  flank  on  the  river  and  his 
left  resting  on  an  impenetrable  swamp.  He  worked  night  and 
day  to  strengthen  his  position  with  the  spade,  and  to  get 
guns  into  place,  besides  putting  one  battery,  supported  by 
800  men,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  to  enfilade  an  attack- 
ing column,  and  to  cover  his  own  right  flank. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  on  this  very  24th  day  of  Decem- 
ber peace  had  been  signed,  unknown  in  America,  and,  there- 
fore, if  the  cable  had  then  existed,  the  life  of  many  a  brave 
man  would  have  been  spared  and  the  British  arms  saved  from 
a  memorable  defeat. 

But  it  will  not  do  to  say  that  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
unknowingly  fought  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed, 
was  for  that  reason  a  fruitless  slaughter,  for  unless  there  had 
been  a  decisive  American  victory  in  Louisiana  the  English 
would  not  have  been  willing  to  relinquish  possession  of  the 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  9 

territory  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  The  veiled 
expressions  of  their  commissioners  at  Ghent  before  signing 
the  treaty,  dissenting  from  Napoleon's  construction  of  inter- 
national law,  meant  this — meant  that  they  did  not  recognize 
the  validity  of  Napoleon's  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States.  So  our  country  is  indebted  to  Jefferson  for  that  vast 
vaguely  defined  empire  then  termed  Louisiana,  which  has 
been  the  means  of  our  breaking  from  what  would  have  been 
our  prison-pen  on  the  east  of  the  river,  and  of  our  legitimate 
expansion  to  the  Pacific  ocean  and  from  Mexico  to  the  lands 
on  the  north  of  the  continent  now  temporarily  held  by  Eng- 
land in  trust  for  us— which  will  eventually  be  ours.  True, 
but  what  does  it  owe  to  Jackson  for  safeguarding  those 
countless  States  which  were  to  be  born  from  that  prolific 
mother — for  causing  the  title-deed  to  the  land  in  fee  simple 
to  be  signed  in  the  blood  of  the  invader?  And  in  this  grand 
transaction  in  history-making  the  name  of  a  Hampton  is 
associated,  the  one  from  whom  the  great  soldier  and  paci- 
ficator derived  his  being. 

After  some  skirmishing,  and  much  artillery  fire,  the  real 
action  came  off  on  January  8,  1815,  over  a  fortnight  after  the 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed.  The  British  were  through- 
out overmatched  in  the  previous  artillery  fighting,  which 
seems  unaccountable,  for  they  could  have  brought  up,  in 
addition  to  those  attached  to  the  army,  a  far  superior  force 
in  guns  and  gunners  from  the  fleet,  which,  equally  unac- 
countably, made  no  serious  demonstration  to  cooperate  with 
the  land  forces,  nor  itself,  to  capture  the  city. 

Jackson's  force  equaled  about  4,000  men,  of  which  800 
were  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river,  which  probably 
included  not  only  those  in  the  actual  firing  line,  but  nearly 
every  efficient  man  that  he  had.  Pakenham  had  his  10,000 
men,  of  which  he  detached  about  1,000  to  cross  the  river  and 
silence  the  battery  there,  and  drive  away  its  supports,  which 
was  easily  accomplished,  but  too  late  to  help  the  main  attack. 
He  then  attacked  with  6,000  men,  holding  the  rest  in  reserve, 
for  the  purpose  of  storming  Jackson's  line.  But  he  only  con- 
verted the  field  in  front  of  the  Americans  into  a  slaughter- 
pen  for  his  own  troops.  It  was  the  old,  old  story  of  English 


10  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

physical  pluck  undirected  by  military  skill — a  frontal  attack 
in  mass  over  open  ground  against  a  resolute  fire  of  "straight- 
shooters"  behind  cover.  They  came  on  in  close  order,  in  a 
beautiful  red  column,  spick-and-span  in  uniforms  and  accou- 
trements, armed  mostly  with  the  comparatively  harmless 
smooth-bore  musket,  and  went  down  like  sheep  before  the 
famous  rifles  of  the  Western  frontiersmen.  In  twenty-five 
minutes  by  the  clock  Pakenham  was  a  dead  man,  his  two 
generals  next  in  rank  wounded,  one  mortally,  and  his  troops 
— what  was  left  of  them — in  pell  mell  retreat  covered  by  the 
reserves.  The  English  acknowledged  a  loss  of  1,929  killed 
and  wounded,  but  the  Americans  put  it  at  2,600,  besides  500 
prisoners,  the  discrepancy  consisting  probably  in  the  count- 
ing by  the  British  of  only  the  badly  wounded,  whilst  we 
counted  all  put  hors  de  combat  and  prisoners.  The  Ameri- 
can loss  was  exactly  eight  killed  and  thirteen  wounded.  Some 
writers — and  among  them  very  recent  ones — put  down  the 
British  losses  at  over  3,000  killed  and  wounded,  but  .there  is 
no  dispute  about  the  number  of  American  casualties  as  above 
given.  The  two  British  West  Indian  regiments  were  "no 
good"  either  in  fighting  or  endurance.  They  were  composed 
in  part  of  negroes. 

This  battle  ended  the  campaign.  The  British  withdrew  to 
their  ships  and  embarked  for  home.  Reaching  there  they 
found  Europe  again  ablaze,  Napoleon  escaped  from  Elba. 
Many  of  them  were  sent  to  Belgium  and  took  part  in  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo. 

The  unique  features  of  this  battle  were  that  it  was  fought 
more  than  a  fortnight  after  peace;  that  a  force  of  regulars, 
the  flower  of  the  British  army  (save  two  partially  negro  regi- 
ments from  the  West  Indies)  10,000  strong,  attacked  4,000 
militia  and  heterogenous  nondescripts,  say  with  odds  of  two 
and  a  half  to  one,  or,  counting  only  the  attacking  column 
actually  engaged,  exclusive  of  reserves,  one  and  a  half  to  one ; 
that  the  enemy  lost,  by  their  own  count,  of  the  troops 
engaged,  33  per  cent.,  and  by  our  count  about  52  per  cent., 
and  that  the  American  casualties  were  in  all  twenty-one 
men,  or  about  half  of  one  per  cent.  But  Jackson  had 
only  3,200  men  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  against  Paken- 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  11 

ham's  9,000.  Other  remarkable  circumstances  attending  this 
movement  are:  why  the  British  did  not  act  with  their  fleet 
against  the  city,  nor  make  any  serious  demonstration  against 
it,  and  why  Pakenham  blundered  so  egregiously  in  his  opera- 
tions, as  he  was  not  a  "tin  soldier,"  but  accounted  a  good  one. 
Perhaps  this  latter  was  caused  by  his  inexperience  in  a  sepa- 
rate command.  Another  strange  thing  is  that  the  expedition, 
so  ambitiously  prepared  for  a  great  object,  should  have  been 
abandoned  so  lightly,  with  the  fleet  intact  and  a  land  force 
remaining  still  nearly  double  that  of  Jackson.  In  point  of 
fact,  the  American  infantry  actually  engaged  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river  did  not  exceed  1,600. 

Whatever  honest  differences  of  opinion  there  may  be  as  to 
Jackson's  qualifications  for  a  political  career,  we  do  not 
think  that  there  can  be  any  doubt  about  his  place  among 
the  world's  greatest  commanders.  Unquestionably,  a  man  in 
whom  the  military  instinct  predominates  may  be  very  dan- 
gerous in  civil  life,  but,  all  the  same,  he  may  also  be  a  weapon 
of  inestimable  value  to  the  people  in  time  of  war.  It  has 
been  given,  indeed,  to  very  few  possessing  military  genius  to 
unite  with  it  unswerving  obedience  to  the  vital  principles  of 
representative  government — among  those  few  was  the  subject 
of  this  memoir.  During  Jackson's  campaign  in  Louisiana, 
his  tactics — taking  into  consideration  his  inferior  numbers 
and  the  heterogenous  character  of  his  force — were  faultless. 
In  his  strategy  there  is  only  one  point  open  to  criticism,  and 
on  this  it  is  provable  that  he  was  not  in  fault.  It  may  be 
said  that  the  provision  on  January  8th  to  cover  his  right  flank 
from  across  the  river  was  inadequate,  and  that  the  disaster 
which  occurred  there  might  have  proved  fatal  if  the  enemy 
had  vigorously  pushed  their  advantage.  But  Jackson  read 
his  adversary  aright.  He  correctly  divined  that  Pakenham, 
already  disheartened  and  bewildered  as  to  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  Americans,  which  he  greatly  exaggerated, 
would  not  dare  to  separate  his  force  by  detaching  a  strong 
body  to  cross  the  river  to  turn  his  enemy's  flank,  but  would — 
as  English  commanders  still  usually  persist  in  doing — make 
a  frontal  attack,  a  head-on  rush.  Meantime  Jackson  had  sent 
a  detachment  across  the  river  sufficient  to  hold  the  position, 


12  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  that  this  was  not  done  was  not  his  fault.  The  greatest 
of  generals  may  have  his  plans. foiled  through  failure  of  sub- 
ordinates to  obey  orders,  as  happened  to  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans,  and  to  Lee  at  Gettysburg  and  at  many  another 
battle. 

After  the  battle  Hampton  was  sent  by  Jackson  as  bearer 
of  dispatches  to  President  Madison  at  Washington,  who  thus 
first  received  the  news.  Inspired  by  the  thought  of  conveying 
to  his  countrymen  the  glorious  report  of  such  a  victory,  which 
he  knew  would  ring  like  a  bugle-blast  throughout  the  land, 
giving  fresh  courage  to  friends  much  in  need  of  it,  for  the 
rest  of  the  war  on  land  had  been  far  from  glorious,  and  was 
only  redeemed  by  the  splendid  achievements  on  the  ocean; 
and  unaware,  as  all  were,  that  peace  had  been  arranged,  he 
sprang  without  a  moment's  delay  into  the  saddle  and  gal- 
loped forth  on  a  ride  of  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
to  Columbia,  S.  C.,  and  thence  to  Washington.  Three  hun- 
dred miles  of  this  distance  were  through  uninhabited  country 
and  swamps,  where  he  must  carry  on  saddle  forage  for  horse 
and  food  for  himself — if  he  ever  thought  of  the  latter.  He 
took  the  shortest  practicable  route,  regardless  of  obstacles, 
plunging  in  on  horse  and  swimming  the  rivers  where  bridge- 
less.  One  day  it  was  impossible  to  make  over  seven  miles, 
owing  to  being  obliged  to  swim  streams  swollen  by  floods,  but 
he  made  the  ride  nevertheless  in  ten  days  and  a  half,  which, 
counting  the  one  day  referred  to  as  a  dies  non,  would  be  an 
average  of  seventy-nine  miles  a  day,  including  detentions  by 
swimming  rivers  and  otherwise.  He  rode  the  same  animal 
during  the  entire  journey,  a  magnificent  thoroughbred,  and 
brought  him  in  entirely  undistressed — "not  a  hair  turned," 
so  to  speak — equally  splendid  horse  and  rider. 

After  the  close  of  hostilities  Hampton  left  the  army  and 
settled  down  upon  his  estates.  His  residence  was  at  Mill- 
wood, some  five  miles  from  Columbia,  but  only  the  stately 
columns  on  the  front  of  the  mansion,  and  ruinous  walls  are 
left  to  remind  one  pathetically  of  the  warm,  open-hearted, 
unostentatious  hospitality  and  happiness  that  once  reigned 
there,  for  it  was  burnt  by  Sherman's  troops  in  1865.  Hamp- 
ton possessed  large  means,  and  was  never  so  pleased  as  when 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  13 

he  could  help  along  some  one  less  fortunate  than  himself,  or 
do  a  good  turn  to  a  friend.  Kind-hearted  above  all  things, 
with  the  natural,  attractive  manners  of  the  well-bred,  his 
home-circle  drew  toward  it  all  that  was  best  in  the  country, 
with  a  welcome  accorded  not  because  of  a  full  bank  account, 
or  foolish  fashion,  but  on  individual  worth.  Here,  too,  was 
his  private  race-track,  where  he  trained  his  thoroughbreds,  of 
which  he  raised  some  of  the  finest  in  the  country.  Here,  also, 
were  "ancient  oaks,"  and  the  fragrance  and  delicate  beauty 
of  the  rose  in  every  hue,  queen  of  flowers  in  this,  her  most 
congenial  realm,  and  all  the  other  delights  of  country-life,  in 
a  climate,  which  made  it  most  charming.  At  the  large  plan- 
tations in  those  days  when  a  gentleman  came  to  stay  as  a 
guest,  to  him  was  assigned  a  horse  to  suit  him  and  a  "boy," 
both  to  be  his  during  his  visit.  He  was  left  quite  indepen- 
dently to  his  own  ideas  of  enjoyment,  not  bored  by  being 
"entertained,"  nor  obliged  to  be  "agreeable,"  during  the 
mornings,  up  to  dinner-time.  He  could  be  with  the  family, 
or  other  visitors,  or  by  himself,  as  he  liked :  could  ride,  shoot, 
fish,  or  sit  in  the  sun  and  read,  and  smoke,  always  with  the 
faithful  "boy"  at  his  bidding;  or  he  was  at  liberty  to  follow 
beaux  yeux  to  the  rose-garden.  The  Colonel's  negroes  were 
fat  and  happy,  as  well  they  might  be,  where  light  work  and 
kindly  attention  in  health  and  sickness  from  infancy  to  old 
age,  were  as  well  an  hereditary  instinct  as  a  recognized  duty 
in  the  kind-hearted  master.  In  politics  he  took  no  active 
part,  but  lived  the  life  of  a  spotless,  noble  gentleman. 

It  was  in  this  atmosphere  that  his  eldest  son,  the  subject 
of  this  biographical  sketch,  was  reared.  He  could  not  have 
been  born  in  one  better  adapted  to  develop  his  fine  nature, 
and  impart  the  friendly  thoughts  and  ways  and  the  gracious 
manner,  which  made  him  liked  by  acquaintances  and  loved 
by  more  than  it  has  been  granted  to  many  men  to  be.  There 
he  learned  to  ride,  as  a  duck  does  to  swim,  "and  witch  the 
world  with  noble  horsemanship."  His  was  riding,  not  the 
artificial  mechanical  product  of  riding  master  and  sawdust, 
but  of  the  lightness  and  grace  so  grateful  to  the  eye,  and 
making  a  heavyweight  in  pounds  a  burden  easily  and  pleas- 
urably  carried  by  the  horse.  Natural  hereditary  aptitude, 


14  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

life-long  daily  practice,  and  a  sympathy  with  animals,  which 
makes  their  minds  and  hearts  your  own,  subject  to  the  will 
without  external  sign  or  motion,  such  are  what  go  to  make 
up  a  perfect  horseman.  He  rode  with  single  rein  and  curb 
bit,  wearing  spurs  with  horizontal  rowels.  When  a  young 
man  he  was  to  take  part  in  a  militia  parade  in  Charleston. 
His  horse  was  brought  to  the  door  for  him  to  mount,  but  the 
animal  being  young  and  fiery  and  excited  by  the  surround- 
ings, plunged  and  reared,  so  that  it  required  three  servants 
to  lead  him  up,  and  he  would  not  remain  quiet  long  enough 
to  enable  Hampton  to  mount  in  the  usual  way.  But  he 
vaulted  into  the  saddle  without  touching  the  stirrup,  and 
before  the  excited  creature  knew  it,  was  firmly  seated.  Can- 
tering up  the  street  a  hundred  yards  or  so,  the  horse  and  he 
had  come  to  a  perfect  understanding — there  is  something  in 
the  sympathetic  contact  of  the  person,  and  the  "feel  of  the 
mouth,"  that  convert  the  horse  and  the  perfect  rider  into  a 
centaur,  no  longer  dual  but  animated  by  a  common  will — 
and  as  he  turned  and  came  "loping"  back  past  the  place 
where  he  had  mounted  he  stooped  gracefully,  when  at  speed, 
and  picked  from  the  ground  a  glove  which  had  been  acci- 
dentally dropped  when  springing  into  the  saddle.  A  friend 
turned  to  his  father  and  said : 

"Are  not  you  afraid  he  will  be  hurt?" 

"Not  unless  he  'shucks'  his  skin,"  replied  the  Colonel, 
smiling. 

On  his  Mississippi  plantation  before  the  war  were  often 
assembled  hunting  parties,  as  well  as  other  guests.  It  was 
here  that  he  was  so  famed  as  a  bear  hunter,  and  was  the  only 
one  known  who  could,  unassisted,  put  a  dead  bear  on  a  horse 
to  be  carried  home.  On  one  occasion  a  young  Englishman 
was  his  guest,  a  man  of  the  class  who  are  bred  from  boyhood 
to  hunt  across  country,  and  he  himself  was  a  noted  dare- 
devil rider,  following  the  hounds  through  thick  and  thin. 
After  the  first  day's  hunt  was  over  he  remarked  to  a  fellow 
guest: 

"There  are  few  men  in  England  who  can  ride  with  him," 
indicating  Hampton. 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  15 

After  the  second  day's  hunt  he  said : 

"There  are  not  three  men  in  England  who  can  ride  with 
him." 

On  the  third  evening  he  made  no  remark  for  a  while,  and 
then  said  quietly : 

"There  is  only  one  man  in  England  who  can  ride  with  him." 

On  the  fourth  night  he  sat  after  dinner  silently  and 
thoughtfully  smoking  his  cigar  in  front  of  the  generous 
chimney,  where  were  blazing  the  huge  yule  logs  cut  from  the 
adjacent  forest.  At  length  he  jumped  up,  turned  his  coat- 
tails  to  the  fire,  and  as  he  stood  before  it  toasting  that  portion 
of  the  human  form  divine  which  most  touches  the  saddle, 
exclaimed  excitedly : 

"By  Jove !  There  is  not  a  man  in  all  England  who  can  ride 
with  him !" 

Like  many  who  have  associated  much  with  men  in  public 
life,  or  in  social  affairs,  Hampton  possessed  the  faculty,  to  a 
wonderful  degree,  of  remembering  faces  and  names,  but  he 
never  forgot  a  horse  once  seen.  Nor  need  it  be  one  of  high 
degree,  for  as  his  was  the  broad,  genial,  democratic  temper 
of  the  true  natural  aristocrat  with  men,  so  it  was  with  four- 
footed  friends.  It  was  believed  that  during  the  war  he  knew 
individually  not  only  every  private  but  every  horse  in  his 
command,  and  certain  it  is,  from  the  writer's  own  observa- 
tion, that  he  frequently  noticed  when  a  trooper  was  riding 
some  animal  not  his  own,  and  would  inquire  the  reason. 

With  a  shotgun  over  dogs  he  was  a  capital  and  quick  shot, 
noted  far  and  wide,  and  a  perfect  sportsman.  It  is  unusual 
for  any  one  to  be  a  past-master  both  with  gun  and  rod,  for 
they  seem  to  require  differ  ifca  temperaments,  but  he  could 
throw  a  fly  to  attract  from  tne  depths  the  most  fastidious 
of  trout,  salmon,  and  bass,  and,  once  struck,  they  had  but 
a  poor  chance  ever  to  get  away  from  that  firm  hand  and  those 
steady  nerves. 

After  graduating  at  the  South  Carolina  College,  of  which 
his  father  was  a  trustee,  he  studied  law,  but  not  with  the  view 
of  practising  it  as  a  profession.  Although  before  middle  life 
much  occupied  with  social  and  other  duties,  and  agricultural 
cares,  as  well  as  field  sports,  he  found  time  for  reading,  and 


16  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

would  thus  pass  many  an  agreeable  evening  that  would  other- 
wise have  been  lonely  in  the  absence  of  guests  in  the  cheerful 
light  of  the  logs  in  his  plantation  home  in  Mississippi.  So, 
when  living  friends  were  not  within  call,  or  when  weather 
prevented  looking  after  plantation  matters,  or  enjoying  the 
woods,  and  field  sports,  there  would  be  the  book-shelves 
containing,  after  all,  the  best  friends  a  man  ever  has;  who 
are  cheerful  with  you  in  prosperity ;  considerate  always,  and 
never  give  the  cold  shoulder  when  luck  is  against  one ;  ready 
to  laugh,  or  to  cry  with  you ;  never  a  bore  by  oversitting  their 
time,  but  always  coming  promptly,  when  asked,  to  chat  alone 
with  you;  so  tactful  and  thoughtful,  too,  that  they  will 
unobtrusively  whisper  useful  hints  in  your  ear  during  the 
sleepless  nights,  and  brace  you  up  for  the  dreaded  tomorrow ; 
or  in  the  trenches  or  on  the  charge,  perhaps,  when  you  feel 
cui  bono,  one  of  them  will  come  to  you  in  memory,  button- 
hole you  for  a  moment,  remind  you  of  some  hero  who  has  been 
made  corporeal  in  song  and  story  perhaps  for  a  thousand 
years  or  more,  or  possibly  within  your  personal  recollection ; 
and  then,  soon  your  comrades  are  saying,  "That  man  would 
rather  fight  than  eat!"  but  it  is  all  the  doing  of  your  old 
friends,  the  books,  and  you  are  only  hypnotized  by  them. 

Once  when  Hampton  was  in  the  United  States  Senate  at 
Washington,  he  was  taking  a  stranger  from  California  to 
introduce  him  to  President  Cleveland.  On  the  way  there,  the 
conversation  somehow  fell  upon  the  odes  of  Horace,  and  there 
arose  a  difference  of  opinion  between  them  as  to  the  correct 
quotation  of  a  certain  line.  They  afterwards  settled  their 
controversy — for,  I  believe,  Mr.  Cleveland  declined  the 
responsibility  of  referee  on  th?7  Hague  tribunal — by  a  copy 
of  Horace,  and  it  turned  out  that  Hampton  was  right.  On 
his  return  home,  the  Californian,  who  cultivated  a  vineyard 
as  well  as  letters,  sent  to  Hampton  a  cask  of  choice  claret  in 
graceful  acknowledgment  of  having  been  in  the  wrong,  and 
from  personal  knowledge  the  writer  can  testify  that  his  taste 
in  claret  was  good,  if  his  recollection  of  the  Latin  poets  might 
be  now  and  then  a  little  inaccurate. 

Hampton  was  a  splendid  specimen  externally  of  the  genus 
homo.  Standing  just  six  feet  in  height,  broad-shouldered, 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  17 

deep-chested,  well  proportioned  in  waist,  and  narrow-hipped, 
with  legs  which,  if  he  chose  to  close  them  in  a  grip,  could 
make  a  horse  groan  with  pain,  he  possessed  an  iron  consti- 
tution, and  great  "muscular  strength,  gifts  of  nature  and 
inheritance,  never  marred  by  any  excess,  and  kept  in  vigor  by 
habits  of  out-door  exercise.  Tobacco  he  used  in  no  form,  and 
wine  or  liquor  very  sparingly.  Up  to  old  age,  and  until  for 
years  his  active  habits  had  been  at  times  interfered  with  by 
suffering  from  the  results  of  his  amputated  leg,  he  never 
knew  by  personal  acquaintance  "that  curs't  hag,  dyspepsia." 
And  let  no  one  flatter  himself  that  he  can  achieve  and  main- 
tain the  position  of  a  very  great  cavalry  leader,  whatever 
his  other  qualifications  may  be,  unless  he  possesses,  in  large 
measure,  such  a  constitution,  and  the  endurance,  mental  and 
physical,  which  accompanies  it.  Many  thousand  lives  were 
needlessly  sacrificed  in  the  war  of  1861-65,  many  a  crit- 
ical position  lost,  or  cause  perhaps  almost  ruined,  because, 
at  "the  time  that  tried  men's  souls,"  the  body  of  the  com- 
mander was  unable  properly  to  do  its  part  of  the  work.  I 
think  I  know  of  an  infantry  general  of  great  eminence,  one  of 
the  best  militarily  educated  of  the  officers  in  the  old  army,  a 
fine  strategist  and  very  able  tactician,  who  ruined  a  cam- 
paign, which  probably  decided  the  result  of  the  entire  contest, 
because  stomach  complaint,  become  chronic,  curtailed  his 
personal  activity,  and,  of  course,  reacted  disastrously  upon 
temper,  nerves,  and  reasoning  powers.  Nor  could  any  but 
an  iron  constitution  have  carried  a  statesman  unruffled  and 
calm,  unsleepingly  vigilant  and  energetic,  through  the  polit- 
ical campaign  of  1876. 

Hampton,  in  eyes,  complexion  and  hair  was  of  the  Saxon, 
not  the  brunette  type,  but  not  too  markedly  so.  His  eyes  were 
large,  and  gray  in  color,  but  having  a  "suspicion"  of  blue, 
when  in  repose,  and  could  be  on  occasion  steel-gray.  The 
troopers  used  to  assert,  and  I  think  correctly,  that  they 
sometimes  "snapped  fire"  when  he  was  in  action.  Ordinarily 
in  friendly  intercourse,  they  had  a  frank,  honest,  open,  kindly 
look,  which  at  a  glance  carried  conviction  of  truth,  sincerity, 
and  honor.  During  the  war  he  wore  a  full  beard,  but  after- 
wards only  whiskers  and  mustache.  His  voice  in  conver- 


18  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

sation,  up  to  his  death,  had  that  smooth,  flowing- water  sound, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  gift  of  a  mild  climate  usually 
free  from  atmospheric  rasping  influences,  a  voice  which  seeks 
out  the  hearer's  heart,  and  yet  possessed  an  undertone  denot- 
ing the  firmness  of  his  character. 

Though  free  from  all  undignified  levity  in  social  inter- 
course, he  yet  always  was  cheerful  and  genial  and  enjoyed  a 
joke,  and  at  times  could  perpetrate  one.  Though  perhaps 
having  been  engaged  in  more  single  combats  with  sabre  and 
pistol  than  any  other  officer  in  the  army,  and  never  hesitating 
to  strike  hard  with  his  command,  neither  soft-handed  in 
action  with  foe,  nor  hesitating  to  exact  obedience  and  courage 
to  the  death  from  his  men,  yet,  the  battle  over,  his  humanity 
and  personal  kindness  to  the  wounded  and  prisoners  of  the 
enemy  were  a  very  marked  characteristic ;  and  not  the  life  of 
a  single  one  of  his  troopers  was  ever  risked  or  paid  out  inten- 
tionally otherwise  than  thriftily,  and  for  a  larger  equivalent 
in  military  value.  As  a  consequence,  he  was  beloved  above  all 
by  his  men,  who  considered  "following  Hampton"  the 
greatest  honor  of  their  lives,  and  was  held  in  almost  as  much 
esteem  by  his  foes,  and  with  them,  as  well  as  with  friends,  his 
intercourse  was  often  marked  by  an  amiable  humorousness, 
which  left  a  pleasant  flavor  behind  it  ever  afterward. 

Once  during  his  Virginian  campaigns,  when  scouting  alone, 
which  he  was  very  much  addicted  to  doing,  he  happened  to 
come  upon  a  single  Federal  soldier,  who  was  bathing  in  a 
stream  of  water  presumably  secure  from  Confederates,  and 
had  left  his  clothes  on  the  bank.  Hampton  covered  him  with 
his  pistol,  and  summoned  him  to  surrender,  which  he 
promptly  did,  and  came  ashore.  Hampton  could  not  help 
feeling  amused  at  his  woe-begone  looks,  all  naked  as  the  day 
he  was  born,  and  probably  showed  it  good-naturedly,  for  the 
fellow  put  up  a  most  piteous  plea  to  be  released.  He  assever- 
ated, in  the  first  place,  that  he  served  in  the  quartermaster 
department,  and  was  therefore  a  non-combatant. 

"And  so,  you  know,  General,"  said  he,  "I  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  hurt  any  of  your  friends,  but  must,  on  the  con- 
trary, have  supplied  them  with  lots  of  nice  captured  things." 

Moreover,  he  stated  that  he  had  just  obtained  a  furlough, 


19 

and  was  going  home  to  be  married,  and  was  taking  a  bath — 
most  unprecedented  proceeding  for  a  soldier  in  the  field — 
before  starting.  So  Hampton  could  not  stand  his  supplica- 
tion any  longer,  and  laughingly  said : 

"All  right.  You  can  go,  then,  for  it  is  a  fact  that  your 
department  is  very  useful  to  us,  and  you  do  not  look  as  if  you 
could  do  any  of  my  men  much  harm." 

So  the  soldier  went  to  put  on  his  clothes,  but  Hampton  put 
a  stop  to  that  proceeding,  remarking : 

"Oh,  no !  I  let  you  off,  but  not  your  clothes.  I  want  those 
for  my  men,  who  are  in  need  of  them." 

In  spite  of  all  entreaties,  the  General  was  obdurate  in  the 
matter  of  the  clothes.  Of  course  it  was  not  their  value,  which 
was  very  little,  but  the  joke  of  the  thing.  So  the  poor  wretch 
had  to  leave  without  them,  nude  as  a  Venus  arising  from  the 
sea-foam,  and  on  leaving  expressed  profuse  thanks  for  his 
liberation,  and  said : 

"I'll  name  my  first  son  Wade  Hampton,  after  you." 

Many  years  afterward,  when  the  General  was  a  United 
States  Senator  at  Washington,  he  was  going  up  to  his  room 
in  his  hotel  in  the  elevator,  when  he  was  spoken  to  by  a  young 
man  there,  who  asked : 

"Are  you  General  Wade  Hampton?" 

On  his  replying  in  the  affirmative,  the  stranger  inquired 
whether  he  remembered  capturing  and  releasing  a  naked 
Federal  prisoner  at  a  certain  time  and  place  in  Virginia,  and 
Hampton  replied  that  he  recollected  it  perfectly. 

"Well,"  said  the  stranger,  "he's  my  father,  and  my  name  is 
Wade  Hampton.  Good  morning,  sir,"  and  stepped  out  of  the 
elevator  at  his  landing. 

On  March  11, 1865,  Johnston's  army  was  crossing  the  Cape 
Fear  River  at  Fayetteville,  N.  O.,  the  cavalry,  of  course,  being 
the  rear  guard.  When  all  but  a  portion  of  the  army  had 
effected  the  crossing,  a  detachment  of  Federal  cavalry,  con- 
sisting of  a  captain  and  sixty-eight  men  and  officers,  in 
advance  of  the  Federal  army  close  behind  them,  rode  through 
a  by-road,  which  by  somebody's  inattention  must  have  been 
unpicketed,  and  came  near  to  causing  a  very  ugly  situation ; 
in  fact,  did  cause  it.  No  other  troops  being  immediately 


20  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

available,  and  no  time  to  lose,  the  bridge  over  the  river 
being  already  sufficiently  crowded,  and  a  panic  possible, 
Hampton  caught  up  seven  followers  (there  were  no  others 
cooperating)  and  flung  himself  on  the  intruding  company  in 
a  hand  to  hand  combat,  driving  them  pell-mell  from  the  town, 
a  large  percentage  being  killed,  or  captured.  Among  the 
latter  was  David  Day,  a  noted  Federal  spy,  dressed  in  Con- 
federate uniform.  When,  after  the  charge,  brought  to  the 
General  to  know  what  disposition  should  be  made  of  the  spy, 
the  General  told  him  that  he  had  no  time  to  attend  to  him 
then,  but  when  he  had  crossed  the  river  he  would  be  obliged, 
to  his  regret,  to  have  him  hanged.  The  fellow  was  accord- 
ingly turned  over  with  the  other  prisoners  to  the  keeping  of 
some  Junior  Reserves,  and,  when  asked  for  at  night,  it  was 
discovered  that  he  had  made  his  escape.  He  was  an  exceed- 
ingly active,  efficient  spy,  one  of  the  best  Sherman  possessed, 
and  had  been  captured  and  managed  to  get  away  three  times 
before  this. 

Thirty-one  years  afterward  Hampton  was  in  Denver,  Colo- 
rado. A  stranger  called  upon  him  at  his  hotel,  and  said  that 
he  had  been  among  the  Federals  in  the  Fayetteville  charge. 
Hampton  spoke  about  the  spy  in  gray  uniform,  whom  he  had 
intended  to  hang,  but  who  had  escaped. 

"I'm  the  man,"  remarked  the  stranger. 

"Well,"  replied  Hampton,  "I  said  that  I  would  have  you 
hanged  as  soon  as  we  got  across  the  river.  I  certainly  would 
have  done  it,  if  you  had  not  got  away,  but  I  am  glad  the 
hanging  did  not  come  off." 

"So  am  I,"  said  the  man,  laughing. 

The  next  morning  Day  published  in  the  local  newspaper 
a  full  account  of  the  charge,  and  his  intended  fate  and  escape, 
and  was  almost  as  laudatory  and  enthusiastic  about  Hamp- 
ton as  if  he  had  been  one  of  his  troopers  instead  of  a  spy  con- 
demned to  death  by  him.  Some  people  do  favors  in  such  a 
churlish,  disagreeable  way,  that  they  make  enemies  by  them, 
but  it  is  not  often  that  you  find  anyone  who  can  condemn  a 
man  to  death  and  thereby  make  a  friend  of  him. 

One  of  the  junior  officers  on  Hampton's  staff  was  a  young 
man  whom  he  had  well  known  from  boyhood,  and  for  this 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  21 

reason  and  others,  was  warranted  sometimes  in  making  a 
little  joke  at  his  expense.  Once,  while  in  quarters  in  mid- 
winter, not  even  Hampton's  energetic  spirit  could  contrive 
any  useful  operations  for  his  command — except,  of  course, 
the  everlasting  picketing  in  hunger,  cold,  and  wet,  but  from 
that  staff  officers  were  exempt.  He  became  tired,  after 
a  while,  of  seeing  the  young  officer  referred  to  loafing  around 
and  smoking  all  the  time,  with  nothing  to  do.  The  head- 
quarters of  General were  some  ten  miles  away,  and 

the  roads  in  Virginia  in  those  days  in  winter  were  bottomless 

pits  of  mud.    Hampton  wrote  a  dispatch  to  General 

and  said  to  the  young  staff  officer,  whom  we  shall  call 
"Blank" : 

"Please  be  kind  enough  to  take  this  to  General ." 

Now,  as  I  have  said,  the  roads  were  almost  swimming 
depth  in  mud,  and  Blank  was  very  careful  about  the  appear- 
ance of  his  dress  and  accoutrements,  top-boots  always 
shining,  steel  spurs,  stirrups,  and  bit  as  bright  as  silver — the 
pride  of  his  "boy" — and  horse  well  groomed.  He  "hated" 
that  ride,  but  nothing  was  to  be  done  but  "mount  and  away." 
After  a  nasty  ride,  horse  and  rider,  covered  with  mud,  clothes 
and  accoutrements  in  the  same  plight,  he  reached  the  head- 
quarters to  which  he  had  been  ordered,  and  delivered  the 
dispatch  to  the  general  for  whom  it  was  intended.  The 
latter  opened  it,  laughed,  and  handed  it  back  to  Blank  to 
read.  It  was : 

DEAE  


Please  give  Blank  a  drink,  and  send  him  back. 

He  had  another  "good  story"  on  Blank.  It  was  in  the  Mine 
Run  campaign  in  November,  1863.  Hampton  had  ascertained 
by  heavy  skirmishing  during  the  day,  that  Meade  was  in 
force  in  his  immediate  front  and  reported  this  to  General 
Lee.  So  the  Commander-in-Chief  rode  down  to  go  over  the 
ground  with  his  general  of  cavalry,  and  see  for  himself  the 
situation.  Meantime,  some  members  of  Hampton's  staff, 
including  Blank,  had  managed  to  find  a  small  house,  where 
there  was  one  room  with  a  fireplace,  which  looked  to  them 
on  that  wet,  raw  November  night  exceedingly  pleasant  for 
cavalry  headquarters,  and  they  accordingly  arranged  to 


22  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

establish  them  there  for  the  night,  sending  a  courier  to  meet 
General  Hampton  on  his  return  from  the  front,  to  show 
him  the  way.  When  General  Lee  with  Hampton  arrived  at 
the  house,  they  found  Blank  and  one  or  two  others  of  the 
staff  toasting  themselves  before  the  fire,  in  a  high  state  of 
comfort.  After  warming  their  hands,  Hampton  turned  to 
General  Lee,  and  said: 

"General,  where  are  your  headquarters  tonight?" 

"Indeed  I  do  not  know,"  replied  the  General ;  "These  were 
my  headquarters  this  morning,  when  I  left  them,  but  these 
young  gentlemen  have  made  themselves  so  comfortable,  that 
I  do  not  know  where  they  are  now." 

Profuse  apologies  and  explanations  were  made.  They  had 
not,  of  course,  known  they  were  his  headquarters.  They 
would  all  move  out  at  once,  Hampton  said.  But  General  Lee 
would  not  hear  of  such  a  thing,  and  so  it  was  arranged  by 
the  two  generals  occupying  the  only  bed  in  the  room,  a  staff 
officer  of  each  to  lie  on  the  floor  in  front  of  the  fire  ready 
to  receive  the  dispatches  arriving  during  the  night.  The 
other  members  of  the  two  staffs  were  turned  out  to  sleep 
huddled  together  in  the  damp  on  a  small  piazza.  It  fell  to 
Blank's  good  luck  to  be  the  officer  whom  Hampton  told  to 
remain  with  him,  and  it  is  said  that  he  snored  all  night  long 
in  front  of  the  fire,  and  that  Colonel  Marshall,  General  Lee's 
attendant,  was  up  about  every  ten  minutes  receiving  the  dis- 
patches pouring  in  by  couriers  for  both  generals.  In  the 
morning,  of  course,  they  all  breakfasted  together,  the  meal 
consisting  of  the  contents  of  a  basket  with  some  tough  "bull- 
beef,"  and  one  slice  of  nice  boiled  Virginia  ham  on  the  top 
of  it — this  naturally  intended  specially  for  General  Lee — 
which  had  been  sent — the  best  certainly,  probably  all,  she 
had — by  some  lady  residing  in  the  neighborhood.  General 
Lee  presided  at  the  table  with  the  same  dignity,  grace,  and 
urbanity  as  he  would  have  shown  at  Arlington,  and  to  each 
in  turn  said : 

"Which  will  you  have?  This  is  some  rather  tough  beef, 
and  here  is  a  nice  piece  of  ham." 

Everybody  said  "beef,"  until  it  came  to  Blank's  turn,  who 
promptly  answered  "ham." 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  23 

As  they  rode  away  after  breakfast  Hampton  said  chaffingly 
to  Blank: 

"Don't  you  think  it  was  an  impudent  thing  to  take  all 
General  Lee's  breakfast?  You  did  not  leave  him  a  mouth- 
ful." 

"No,  indeed,  I  don't  think  so  at  all,"  replied  Blank,  "That 
old  gentleman  is  always  presuming  on  his  rank  with  us.  See 
how  he  turned  us  all  out  in  the  cold  last  night  [as  a  matter 
of  fact,  he  himself  had  been  all  night  snoring  by  the  fire]. 
I  had  to  take  him  down  a  bit." 

About  a  year  after  this,  General  Lee  stopped  one  morning 
to  see  Hampton  at  his  headquarters  and  took  breakfast  there. 
The  menu  was  boiled  rice,  and  sweet-potato  coffee,  and  noth- 
ing at  all  else.  Hampton  presided  at  table,  and  asked  Gen- 
eral Lee  if  he  could  help  him  to  some  rice. 

"Yes,  thank  you,"  said  General  Lee,  "and,  if  convenient,  I 
would  like  to  be  helped  before  Captain  Blank." 

So  the  General  had  remembered  that  ham  incident  all  that 
time,  and  Blank  was  "taken  down  a  bit."  But  he  had  his 
chance  to  make  amends,  for  he  was  a  rice  planter,  and  after 
the  war  had  the  pleasure  of  sending  barrels  of  rice  from  time 
to  time  as  presents  to  General  Lee,  in  memory  of  the  break- 
fast of  which  he  had  deprived  him. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  an  incident  happened,  which  Gen- 
eral Hampton  used  to  relate. 

General  Lee  was  riding  with  him  over  the  outer  lines  to 
inspect  the  ground.  Each  had  left  his  staff  behind,  for  there 
was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  risking  more  lives,  and,  besides, 
the  fewer  there  were  the  less  likely  it  would  be  that  the 
attention  of  the  sharpshooters  would  be  attracted  to  them. 
After  a  time  they  reached  a  position  where  for  some  little 
distance  the  direct  way,  which  they  would  have  to  go,  was 
open,  and  very  much  exposed  to  sharpshooters,  but  by  making 
a  slight  detour  this  could  be  avoided.  When  this  point  was 
reached  General  Lee  turned  to  General  Hampton,  and  show- 
ing him  the  detour  said : 

"General,  there  is  no  use  for  you  to  risk  it  by  riding  here. 
You  had  better  go  that  way  and  I  will  meet  you  over  there," 
indicating  the  place  where  some  cover  began  again.  It  is 


24  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

needless  to  say  that  Hampton  did  not  adopt  the  suggestion, 
but  it  illustrates  how  thoughtful  and  considerate  General 
Lee  was  of  everybody — except  himself. 

Hampton's  largest  agricultural  interests  were  in  Missis- 
sippi, and  there  he  spent  much  of  his  time  prior  to  1861.  His 
principal  crop  was  cotton,  which  that  season  reached  5,000 
bales.  At  ten  cents  a  pound  this  crop  would  have  been  worth 
a  quarter  million  dollars.  Besides  this,  corn  and  other  pro- 
visions were  raised.  There  was  a  large  stock  of  mules  for 
work,  as  well  as  other  animals,  and  then  there  were  hundreds 
of  negroes  to  be  looked  after.  It  was,  therefore,  an  occupa- 
tion which  was  very  far  from  a  sinecure.  It  required  a 
careful  attention  to  details,  as  also  a  broad  grasp,  and  the 
able  management  of  a  large  capital.  This  training,  and  the 
spirit  of  command  and  management  on  a  large  scale  thus 
learned  were  no  bad  preparation  for  much  of  a  military 
officer's  duties.  He  was  to  his  negroes  kind,  considerate 
and  wise  for  their  happiness :  a  more  contented  people  were 
never  to  be  seen.  They  were  always  attached  to  him,  and  his 
influence  over  them  survived  the  war  and  "freedom." 

Everything  pertaining  to  country  life  was  dear  to  Hamp- 
ton, the  simplest  as  well  as  the  more  important.  It  is  related 
of  him  that  once  when  required  to  prepare  an  important 
State  paper,  he  remained  home  from  church  on  a  Sunday, 
for  the  purpose  of  writing  it  out,  at  his  place  in  the  country 
not  far  from  Columbia.  As  his  family  returning  from  church 
drove  up  to  the  door,  he  met  the  carriage  to  help  the  ladies 
out,  and  was  asked  if  he  had  finished  his  paper. 

"No,"  said  he,  "but  I  have  found  where  the  old  turkey 
hen  has  made  her  nest  in  the  long  grass  behind  the  stable !" 

Cashier's  Valley,  in  Western  North  Carolina,  was  his 
favorite  home  in  -summer.  Up  to  thirty  or  forty  years  ago, 
there  was  good  hunting  there  for  large  game,  as  well  as 
pheasants  (ruffed  grouse).  Trout  at  first  existed  only  on 
one  side  of  the  watershed,  but  he  carried  them  in  buckets  over 
the  ridge,  where  they  have  since  flourished.  Sport  of  any 
kind  enjoyed  in  that  beautiful  region,  or  mere  existence,  is 
rendered  vastly  more  pleasurable  than  elsewhere  by  the  sur- 
roundings. Mountains,  the  highest  this  side  of  the  Rockies, 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  25 

usually  clothed  with  magnificent  forests  to  a  considerable 
altitude,  and  beautifully  verdant  to  their  summits;  plateaus 
four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  swept  by  health-bearing 
breezes ;  sheltered  nooks  among  the  picturesque  "coves,"  and 
along  the  clear,  cool  streams  rushing  among  the  mossy  rocks ; 
it  was  from  this  mountain-home  of  his  youth  that  Hampton 
came  forth  to  redeem  his  people  in  1876,  and  well  that  heart 
and  mind  and  hand  were  charged  full  and  braced  up  with 
pure  vigor  of  the  "everlasting  hills." 

Among  the  many  other  gentle  traits  in  Hampton's  char- 
acter was  his  goodness  to  children.  In  Cashier's  Valley, 
before  the  sixties,  in  the  summer  time  on  Sundays — there 
were  no  churches  there  then,  and  he  would  never  fish,  shoot, 
or  hunt  on  Sundays — he  would  often  be  seen  wandering  about 
with  children,  making  hooks  of  bent  pins  and  with  a  cord 
attached  helping  them  to  catch  minnows,  and  otherwise 
amusing  them.  When  little  Miss  Ruth  Cleveland  was  infant 
queen  of  the  White  House  he  met  her  once  in  the  hall  as 
he  was  leaving  from  an  interview  with  her  father,  and 
stopped  to  talk  with  her  for  a  few  minutes  to  their  mutual 
delight.  At  length,  when  the  elevator  stopped  at  the  floor 
to  take  her  upstairs,  she  pointed  to  it  and  said : 

"Go,  now." 

So  he  obeyed  the  royal  command,  and  they  were  great 
friends  ever  afterward.  He  related  the  incident  to  Mr. 
Cleveland,  saying  laughingly :  "She  must  have  caught  that 
phrase  from  hearing  you  so  often  use  it  to  importunate  office- 
seekers." 

Not  very  long  before  his  death,  when,  in  fact,  he  was  suf- 
fering from  a  cold  the  effects  of  which  probably  ended  his  life, 
the  writer  told  him  of  the  great  mortification  and  distress 
felt  by  a  son  of  his,  then  a  small  boy,  who  a  day  or  two  before 
had  missed  a  fine  buck  by  overshooting  him.  He  smiled  and 
said: 

"Tell  him,  to  comfort  him,  that  accidents  will  happen  in 
the  best  regulated  families.  Old  Mr.  Taylor,  Squire  Taylor, 
as  they  used  to  call  him,  was  considered  in  my  young  days 
the  greatest  of  deer  hunters.  One  day  he  was  on  a  stand  at 
the  bottom  of  a  small  hill,  and  a  herd  of  deer,  six  in  number, 


26  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

I  think,  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  stopped,  and  looked  at 
him ;  he  took  aim,  fired,  overshot  every  one  of  them,  and  was 
so  disgusted  that  he  did  not  fire  his  second  barrel." 

"Then  shall  I  give  him  your  order,  General,"  said  I  (quot- 
ing Ben  Pump's  favorite  phrase  from  Cooper's  "Pioneers"), 
'  "to  fire  low,  and  hull  your  enemy'  ?" 

"Yes,"  he  said,  laughing,  "tell  him  to  fire  low  and  hull  the 
enemy." 

Wounded  and  helpless  people,  as  well  as  children,  always 
attracted  kindness  from  him,  as  has  been  said  before  this, 
but  an  example  often  shows  a  trait  of  character  better  than 
the  mere  statement  of  a  fact  can  do.  It  was  the  Monday 
morning  after  the  two  days'  fighting  at  Trevillian  in  1864, 
when  he  had,  by  an  exhibition  of  military  ability  rarely  sur- 
passed in  the  annals  of  war,  extricated  his  command  from 
almost  hopeless  defeat  and  destruction,  caused  by  no  fault  of 
his  own,  and  wrenched  a  signal  victory  out  of  the  bloody 
jaws  of  disaster.  On  following  up,  at  the  head  of  his  column, 
the  retreating  foe,  he  happened  to  pass,  lying  close  by  the 
roadside,  a  wounded  Confederate  trooper,  who  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy  on  Saturday  morning  during  the 
serious  complication  then  occurring,  and  whom  they  had 
left  behind  in  their  retreat,  as  supposedly  hors  de  combat 
permanently.  It  has  been  remarked,  that  Hampton  was 
believed  to  know  every  man  and  horse  in  his  command,  but 
few  indeed  have  been  the  great  leaders,  of  any  age,  the  wide 
world  over,  who  could  or  would  have  paused  to  do  this  thing, 
which  I  am  about  to  relate,  for,  remember,  he  had  for  two 
days  and  nights  been  engaged  in  a  death  grapple  and  was 
now  eagerly  following  up  the  retreating  defeated  foe.  He 
recognized  the  poor,  miserable,  dirty  private  as  one  who  was 
farther  from  friends  and  home  than  most,  halted  a  moment, 
and  then  sent  one  of  his  staff — it  was  "Blank" — to  say  a  kind 
word  and  lend  him  some  money.  It  is  only  fair  to  add,  that 
a  half  hour  or  so  before  this,  had  passed  by  the  rear-guard 
covering  Sheridan's  retreat,  and  that  the  colonel  of  a  New 
Jersey  regiment,  a  quondam  college  friend  and  brother  Delta 
Phi  from  old  Princeton,  had  got  down  from  his  horse  and 
tendered  his  brandy  flask. 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  27 

This  subject  suggests  very  agreeable  recollections  of  other 
kindnesses  received,  which  I  cannot  bear  to  pass  over,  and 
for  that  reason  will  ask  to  trespass  further  on  the  reader's 
patience  by  relating  them,  although  insignificant  personal 
incidents. 

When  wounded,  I  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Federals,  and 
remained  a  prisoner  until  they  retreated  about  forty-eight 
hours  afterward,  as  has  already  been  related.  During  that 
time  the  attentions  of  the  hospital  authorities  were  not  press- 
ing by  any  means,  and  I  was  a  good  deal  the  worse  for  wear, 
which  lying  unsheltered  in  the  sun  all  day,  and  in  the  rain 
during  one  night,  did  not  have  a  tendency  to  better.  As  it 
chanced,  there  was  a  boy  of  about  my  own  age  in  the  hospital 
slightly  wounded,  who  belonged  to  the  Second  United  States 
Cavalry,  that  corps  d'  elite  of  the  old  army  of  which  Albert 
Sydney  Johnston  had  been  colonel  and  Lee  lieutenant-colonel, 
and  in  which  several  other  officers  on  both  sides,  afterward 
generals,  had  served.  Of  Confederates  there  were  Hardee, 
Van  Dorn,  Kirby  Smith,  Evans,  Hood,  Field,  Chambliss, 
and  Phifer;  and  of  Federals,  Thomas,  Palmer,  Stoneman, 
Johnson,  and  Garrard. 

This  boy,  from  the  moment  that  he  saw  me,  was  as  kind 
and  friendly  as  possible ;  obtained  some  food  for  me,  and  even 
a  drink  of  whiskey,  which  latter  was  like  a  refreshing  shower 
in  the  desert  of  Sahara.  Observing  that  I  wore  a  signet  ring 
on  the  little  finger  of  my  left  hand,  he  advised  me  to  take  it 
off  and  hide  it  at  once  in  my  clothes,  for  he  said,  "Those  other 
boys  [from  which  I  understood  him  to  mean  the  conscripts] 
are  none  too  good  to  steal  it."  I  replied  that  I  had  thought 
of  that,  but  could  not  remove  it  from  the  finger,  because 
the  joint  was  swollen.  He  said  that  it  must  be  concealed 
somehow,  for  otherwise  "the  boys"  would  be  very  likely  to 
cut  the  finger  off  to  obtain  it.  So  he  tore  a  piece  from  his 
handkerchief  an.d  bound  it  around  the  finger,  as  if  it  were 
wounded,  and  thus  effectually  hid  the  ring.  A  few  minutes 
afterward  he  brought  up  a  sergeant  in  his  regiment,  a  much 
older  man,  also  slightly  wounded,  and  I  at  once  recognized 
in  him  another  "friend  at  court,"  for  I  had  seen  him  once 


28  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

before  under  peculiar  circumstances,  some  three  years  pre- 
viously. It  was  impossible  not  to  recognize  the  man,  for  he 
was  a  remarkable  looking  fellow,  immensely  tall,  strong  and 
wiry,  with  a  very  pronounced  "Cape  Cod  nose,"  and  a  shrewd, 
but  honest  face.  When  seen  before,  he  was  talking  with  com- 
rades about  the  merits  of  the  commanders  on  both  sides,  and 
I  had  heard  him  say: 

"I  tell  you  men,  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was  the  best 
man  that  God  Almighty's  sun  ever  shone  on.  I  served  under 
him  in  the  Salt  Lake  expedition." 

On  this  occasion  I  led  up  to  that  subject,  and  his  expres- 
sion was  exactly  the  same  as  used  nearly  three  years  before. 
That  man  did  every  kindness  he  could  to  me — from  his 
limited  resources — and  I  verily  believe  it  was  chiefly  for  the 
sake  of  Albert  Sydney  Johnston.  I  was  his  beneficiary. 

Hampton's  amiability  and  good  judgment  prevented  his 
entertaining  ill-feeling  against  any  former  antagonist  of  hon- 
orable record  after  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  off,  and 
the  same  was  true  of  political  opponents  conscientiously 
entertaining  their  views,  and  pursuing  them  by  legitimate 
methods.  During  his  twelve  years'  residence  in  Washington, 
while  Senator,  he  had  many  personal  friends  among  Repub- 
licans, besides  others,  President  Arthur,  with  whom  he  often 
enjoyed  a  gallop,  and  a  fishing  excursion  for  Potomac  bass. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  a  letter  was  published  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Record  from  the  well-known  Colonel  A.  K.  McClure, 
in  which  it  is  said,  "From  the  day  the  war  ended  no  expres- 
sion of  bitterness  or  resentment  ever  came  from  Wade  Hamp- 
ton. On  the  contrary,  he  earnestly  urged  the  restoration  of 
peace  and  fraternal  brotherhood."  The  letter,  after  referring 
to  incidents  of  the  Chambersburg  raid  in  1862,  when  McClure 
first  met  Hampton,  continues :  fll  did  not  again  meet  Hamp- 
ton until  after  his  election  to  the  governship  in  1876.  At  our 
first  meeting  we  had  a  pleasant  evening,  recalling  the  inter- 
esting incidents  of  the  Chambersburg  raid.  From  then,  until 
the  last  few  years,  I  met  him  many  times  in  Washington,  and 
was  always  delighted  to  enjoy  his  genial  and  kindly  com- 
panionship. ...  In  1876,  when  the  people  were  goaded 
to  desperation  by  the  licentious  'carpet-bag'  rule  of  the  State, 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  29 

Hampton  was  forced  into  the  campaign  for  governor.  The 
contest  was  one  of  unusual  desperation,  but  with  all  the 
power  and  the  machinery  in  the  hands  of  the  State  author- 
ities, sustained  by  the  army,  and  by  a  State  constabulary 
that  permeated  every  precinct,  Hampton  was  elected  by 
1,134  majority.  I  doubt  whether  Hampton  rendered  more 
heroic  service  in  the  flame  of  battle  than  he  did  in  restraining 
his  friends  from  resorting  to  violence,  when  the  election 
fraud  was  perpetrated,  and  driving  the  corrupt  'carpet- 
baggers' from  the  State,  but  he  held  his  people  steadily  to  law 
and  order,  feeling  assured  that  in  time  the  right  would 
triumph.  .  .  .  During  his  twleve  years'  service  in  the 
Senate  he  was  always  one  of  the  most  conservative  and 
patriotic  of  Southern  law-makers.  He  exhausted  his  efforts 
to  suppress  sectional  strife,  not  only  by  example,  but  every 
deliverance  he  ever  made,  he  pleaded  for  the  suppression  of 
sectional  bitterness,  and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  rela- 
tions between  the  North  and  the  South.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  delightful  of  all  the  Senators  to  meet  in  social  inter- 
course, and  his  magnificent  physique,  soldierly  bearing,  and 
honest  face  commanded  the  admiration  of  all  who  came 
within  the  range  of  his  acquaintance." 

Ex-Governor  Hugh  S.  Thompson,  prominent  in  Washington 
in  Mr.  Cleveland's  administration,  wrote  of  Hampton:  "In 
the  United  States  Senate  he  acquired  wonderful  influence. 
It  was  remarked  by  one,  who  was  in  a  position  to  know  of 
what  he  spoke,  that  Hampton  had  more  influence  in  the 
Senate  than  any  other  man.  His  brother  Senators  respected 
his  high  character,  his  judgment,  and  his  patriotism,  and  they 
were  always  glad  when  party  affiliations  permitted  them  to 
follow  him  in  any  measure.  Shortly  before  his  term  in  the 
Senate  ended,  he  made  a  speech  upon  the  then  exciting  ques- 
tion of  the  day — the  force  bill.  His  speech  was  delivered  late 
at  night  during  one  of  the  long  sessions  of  the  Senate,  while 
there  were  but  few  auditors  in  the  gallery,  but  it  made  a 
profound  impression  upon  all  who  heard  it.  At  the  close, 
Senator  Plumb,  of  Kansas,  one  of  the  strongest  Republican 
partizans,  shook  him  warmly  by  the  hand  and  said :  'General 


30  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Hampton,  whatever  may  happen  to  you  in  the  future,  remem- 
ber that,  after  that  speech,  I  am  always  your  friend.'  Vice- 
President  Levi  P.  Morton,  who  was  presiding,  said  after- 
ward, that  he  wished  every  man  in  the  country  could  have 
heard  that  speech,  which  abounded  with  the  highest  patriot- 
ism, and  that  in  all  respects  it  had  made  more  impression 
upon  him  than  any  speech  which  he  had  heard  while  he  pre- 
sided in  the  Senate." 

At  the  same  time  the  late  Judge  C.  H.  Simonton  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court — who  would  have  sat  on  the 
Supreme  bench  if  selection  always  went  by  desert,  and  not 
political  "pull" — wrote  about  Hampton  words  which  have 
unusual  weight,  coming  from  such  a  distinguished  source : 

"My  relations  with  General  Hampton  became  closer  and 
my  opportunities  of  knowing  him  were  more  frequent  after  he 
became  a  candidate  for  governor,  and  whilst  he  filled  that 
office.  He  had  a  wonderful  faculty  of  reaching  his  conclu- 
sions, as  it  were,  by  instinct.  State  to  him  a  proposed  line  of 
action  and,  at  once,  without  any  hesitation,  he  gave  his  opin- 
ions, apparently  not  reasoned  out,  but  the  result,  as  it  were, 
of  intuitive  perception.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  he  was  right. 

"As  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  on  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  he  would  send  for  me  occasionally  to  explain 
some  Act,  which  had  gone  through  that  committee,  and  was 
submitted  to  him  for  approval.  On  one  occasion,  particu- 
larly, I  recall,  that  he  objected  to  an  Act. 

"  'It  will  not  do,'  he  said,  'I  will  veto  it.  I  am  busy  with 
these  other  Acts ;  suppose  that  you  write  the  message.' 

"The  result  of  a  careful  examination  of  the  Act  showed 
that  his  intuition,  or  instinct,  call  it  what  you  will,  was 
correct.  The  veto  was  unanimously  sustained.  So  it  was  in 
a  great  many  ways  with  him. 

"General  Conner  used  to  say  that  during  the  campaign  of 
1876,  those  who  were  in  his  closest  intimacy  were  often 
startled  to  find  General  Hampton  reaching  at  once  a  conclu- 
sion as  to  a  course  of  action  over  which,  in  his  absence,  they 
had  been  debating  long  and  anxiously.  He  was  a  born  woods- 
man, and  carried  into  all  his  pursuits  the  tastes  and  experi- 
ences of  this  character.  It  was  this  adjunct  to  his  genius  for 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  31 

fighting  which  made  him  the  great  cavalry  leader,  and  this, 
which  in  civil  life  made  him  abnormis  sapiens  et  crassa 
Minerva,  wise  without  the  aid  of  scholastic  rules,  and  full  of 
strong  common  sense. 

"So  long  as  manhood,  and  honor,  and  devoted  patriotism 
are  appreciated,  his  name  will  be  remembered  and  revered." 

As  to  the  bearing  of  woodcraft  on  war,  it  is  recalled  that 
Macchiavelli  in  his  Prince  recommends  hunting  for  develop- 
ing topographical  skill. 

I  have  been  told  by  Judge  Simonton  that  one  afternoon 
during  the  crisis  of  the  campaign  of  1876,  a  consultation  of 
the  gravest  importance  was  being  held,  only  two  or  three  per- 
sons, besides  the  General,  being  present.  He  was  silent  as  to 
his  own  views,  but*  listened  attentively  to  those  of  the  others. 
Before  any  conclusion  was  reached  there  was  a  knock  at  the 
door,  and  it  was  announced  that  a  certain  man  was  waiting 
outside  to  see  the  General,  one  who  had  been  a  good  old 
soldier  of  his,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  and  on  whom 
he  frequently  relied  for  hunting  expeditions.  Hampton  at 
once  rose  and  said  that  he  regretted,  but  he  would  have  to 
adjourn  the  meeting  until  the  next  morning,  as  he  must  talk 
to  his  hunting  friend,  who  had  come  a  long  distance  to  see 
him.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done,  of  course,  but  to  adjourn, 
but  the  gentlemen  present,  without  saying  anything,  looked 
at  one  another  significantly,  as  much  as  to  say,  "At  last  Jove 
is  nodding."  But  they  found  out  their  mistake  next  morn- 
ing, when  the  meeting  was  reconvened.  The  supposed  hunt 
had  been  on  the  instant  seized  upon  by  him  as  a  convenient 
means  of  delaying  the  decision  until  the  next  morning,  when 
he  expected  to  receive  information  having  a  most  momentous 
bearing  upon  the  matter,  and  about  which  he  was  not  at 
liberty  then  to  speak.  The  information  was  received  during 
the  night,  and  totally  changed  the  decision  which  had  been 
contended  for  on  the  previous  evening. 

The  writer  could  furnish  almost  numberless  quotations 
similar  to  the  above,  from  newspapers  and  letters,  which  he 
has  preserved,  but  space  forbids  the  introduction  of  more. 

After  being  admitted  to  the  bar  Hampton  devoted  a  portion 
of  his  time  to  politics,  as  was  but  the  duty  of  the  eldest  son 


32  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTBUCTION 

of  a  family,  which,  from  historical  fame,  social  position,  and 
wealth,  justly  held  so  much  influence  in  the  community.  His 
opinions  on  the  burning  questions  of  the  day  were  very  con- 
servative— not  at  all  in  accord  with  extreme  views.  The  best 
interests  of  his  country,  not  his  own  private  advantage,  were 
those  nearest  his  heart,  and  his  judgment  was  never  found  at 
fault.  While,  of  course,  believing  that  negro  slavery,  which 
at  that  time  had  not  long  ceased  to  exist — from  climatic 
causes  alone — in  the  Northern  States,  was,  being  an  estab- 
lished institution,  right  and  proper  for  his  people,  yet  he  was 
no  fanatic,  and  resolutely  opposed  any  public  opinion  directed 
toward  the  toleration  of  the  reimportation  of  negroes.  His 
speech,  as  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  on  this  subject  was 
greatly  applauded  by  the  New  York  Tribune — at  that  date 
the  most  extreme  radical  journal  of  any  consequence  in  the 
country — which  called  it  "a  masterpiece  of  logic,  directed  by 
the  noblest  sentiments  of  the  Christian  and  the  patriot." 

When  the  crisis  of  1860-61  was  approaching,  there  were  in 
South  Carolina — and  indeed  in  all  the  "Cotton  States" — 
three,  and  practically  only  three,  groups  of  opinion  on  the 
momentous  question  of  Secession,  or  Union.  Strange  as  it 
may  perhaps  seem  to  those  of  a  purely  material  turn  of  mind 
(who  ignore  sentiment,  as  being  of  enormous  controlling 
power),  the  personal  status  of  a  man,  whether  poor  or  rich, 
slaveholder  or  non-slaveholder,  appeared  to  make  no  differ- 
ence at  all  in  the  nature  of  his  opinions,  and  not  one  in  five 
was  in  fact  the  owner  of  a  single  slave.  Those  are  jaundiced 
minds  that  now  think  that  it  was  "a  rich  man's  war,  and  a 
poor  man's  fight."  The  two  clauses  of  the  sentence  are 
equally  incorrect.  Moreover,  the  hope  of  an  ultimate  well- 
considered  plan,  with  due  regard  to  humanity  toward  both 
races,  of  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  where  entertained 
at  all,  would  be  found  almost  exclusively  among  the  richest 
and  most  cultured  slaveholders  wearied  of  the  responsi- 
bilities and  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  the  system. 

The  first  group  above  referred  to  would  have  expressed 
its  views,  in  substance,  as  follows :  they  would  have  asserted 
that  they  were  Americans  in  every  fibre  of  their  being, 
devotedly  attached  to  the  Union,  and  would  have  pointed  to 


EARLY  LIFE— SECESSION  33 

their  record  in  the  past,  in  peace  and  war,  as  a  proof  of  this ; 
that  they  believed  that  any  State,  acting  through  a  constit- 
uent assembly,  or  convention  of  the  people  elected  by  them 
for  that  purpose,  possessed  the  legal,  and  moral  right  to 
secede  from  the  Union,  when  the  people  elected  to  do  so,  but 
that  nothing,  short  of  the  necessity  of  self-preservation, 
should  ever  cause  them  to  exercise  this  right:  that  the  Ter- 
ritories were  the  common  property,  and  undivided  asset  of 
all  the  States,  and  that  consequently  all  were  coequal  in 
their  rights  there ;  that  as  long  as  these  remained  Territories, 
the  citizens  of  all  the  States  had  the  equal  right  to  emi- 
grate there,  carrying  with  them  all  their  property  recognized 
as  such  by  the  existing  laws  of  the  United  States ;  that  when 
a  community  constituting  a  Territory  adopted  a  Constitution 
and  applied  to  Congress  for  admission  into  the  Union,  as  a 
State,  such  community  had  the  right  to  decide  whether  the 
new  State  should,  or  should  not  admit  negro  slavery  there, 
as  an  institution ;  that,  if  they  did  not  maintain  these,  their 
Territorial  rights,  there  would  be  no  more  States  made 
having  the  institution  of  negro  slavery,  and  consequently 
they  themselves  would  become  in  a  hopeless  minority,  and  be 
exposed  to  ruinous  legislation  leveled  against  them,  even  to 
the  suddenly  turning  loose  upon  them  of  their  own  forcibly 
emancipated  slaves;  that  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  a 
"free  soil"  (i.  e.  their  exclusion  from  the  Territories)  plat- 
form should  be  the  danger-signal  for  Secession. 

There  was  a  second  group,  which  held  to  the  right  of  Seces- 
sion, and  the  rest  of  the  contentions  of  the  first  group,  except 
that  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  should  be  the  signal  for  Seces- 
sion ;  they  held  that  his  election,  and  the  incidents  leading  to 
and  connected  with  it,  were  npt  a  justification  for  Secession ; 
that  self-restraint  should  be  practised,  and  every  means  made 
use  of  to  remove  the  necessity  for  Secession,  before  going  into 
it.  Nevertheless,  they  admitted  the  right  of  a  State  conven- 
tion to  take  the  State  out  of  the  Union  in  spite  of  their  wishes 
and  to  bind  them  by  this  action,  allegiance  to  the  State  being, 
in  their  opinion,  a  paramount  duty. 

There  was  a  third  group,  consisting  of  those  who,  while 
freely  admitting  that  Secession  had  existed  as  a  right 


34 

originally  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  for  many 
years  afterward,  yet  contended  that,  as  time  had  gone  on,  the 
States  had  entered  into  mutual  agreements  by  contracts, 
made  transactions  together,  consented  to  Acts  of  Congress, 
and  to  decisions  of  courts  establishing  precedents,  which  had 
by  now  created  a  condition  of  affairs  inconsistent  with  the 
exercise  of  the  former  right  of  Secession;  in  other  words, 
that,  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  they  had,  as 
States,  entered  into  what  were  virtually  implied  treaties  with 
their  sister  States  not  to  secede.  Those  of  the  third  group, 
however,  believed  in  the  right  of  revolution,  as  presumably 
every  one  else  does.  There  were  not  very  many  in  South  Car- 
olina belonging  to  the  third  group,  and  it  was  found  there,  as 
elsewhere  in  the  South,  that,  when  the  war  actually  began, 
nearly  all  of  these  threw  in  their  lot  with  their  neighbors, 
and  none  were  more  resolute  or  more  gallant  in  the  field. 
General  Lee  would  probably  have  been  enrolled  in  the 
third  group,  if  he  had  resided  in  South  Carolina,  and  like 
him  many  and  many  a  man  there  belonging  as  well  to  the 
first  and  second,  as  to  the  third  group,  would  gladly  have 
given  freedom  to  his  slaves — if  he  could  honorably,  and  with- 
out the  stigma  of  compulsion,  have  done  so — to  save  the 
Union,  and  avert  bloodshed. 

In  the  second  group,  it  would  seem  that  General  Hampton 
should  be  classed;  certainly  not  in  the  first.  Immediately 
after  the  Ordinance  of  Secession  was  passed  he  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  State  Senate  on  the  ground  that  he  was  about  to 
enter  the  army.  Thus,  mailed  from  head  to  foot  in  the  armor 
of  duty,  he  drew  his  "stainless  sword"  to  defend  a  cause, 
which  the  verdict  of  the  people,  the  principle  of  representa- 
tive government,  according  to  his  conscience,  bade  him  de- 
fend, in  a  war,  which  he  had  done  nothing  to  produce,  and 
which  he  had  used  his  utmost  exertions  to  prevent;  with 
nothing  possible  to  gain,  and  everything  to  lose.  In  this, 
he  was  not  unlike  Cromwell  at  the  commencement  of  his 
career,  nor  does  the  similarity  end  here,  for  Cromwell  first 
took  to  war  at  the  same  age  as  Hampton,  and,  like  him, 
without  any  previous  military  training,  also  became  the 
greatest  cavalry  general  of  his  time  at  a  period  when  the 


EARLY  LIFE — SECESSION  35 

horse  was  the  most  important  part  of  an  army.  Moreover, 
Cromwell,  too,  was  a  great  lover  of  fine  horses  and  fond  of 
field  sports,  and  affectionate  and  irreproachable  in  his  family 
relations,  but  there  (unfortunately  for  Cromwell's  fame)  the 
comparison  must  end. 


36  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

CHAPTER  SECOND 
WAR 

Forth  from  its  scabbard,  high  in  air 

Beneath  Virginia's  sky ! 
And  they  who  saw  it  gleaming  there, 
And  knew  who  bore  it,  knelt  to  swear 
That  where  that  sword  led,  they  would  dare 

To  follow — and  to  die ! 

— Father  Ryan. 

Hampton  was  forty-three  years  of  age  when  he  first  drew 
his  sword.  He  had  had  no  military  training  whatever,  unless 
a  connection  with  the  militia  may  be  considered  such.  This 
was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  great  impediment  to  promotion 
in  the  army,  firstly  and  evidently,  because  technical  knowl- 
edge had  to  be  acquired  by  experience,  by  practical  study; 
and,  secondly,  because  there  was  a  very  natural,  and  proper 
prejudice  among  the  professionals,  the  old  West-Pointers  at 
Richmond,  against  amateurs,  and  "political  generals,"  and 
all  are  naturally  supposed  to  be  such,  until  they  prove  them- 
selves of  different  stuff.  But,  in  spite  of  this,  he  rose  to  be 
one  of  the  two  officers  in  the  Confederacy  commanding 
cavalry  who  attained  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  the 
other  being  Forrest,  who,  singularly  enough,  had  also  re- 
ceived no  military  education  prior  to  the  war.  There  were 
no  other  lieutenant-generals  of  cavalry  in  the  Confederate 
army.  As  they  operated  in  entirely  different  spheres  of 
action,  and  were  subject  to  quite  dissimilar  conditions,  there 
is  no  need  to  attempt  to  argue  about  their  respective  rank  in 
the  world's  gallery  of  great  cavalry  leaders :  let  us  say,  then, 
par  nobile  fratrum.  Forrest  possesses  a  biographer  worthy 
of  him  in  Wyeth. 

This  narrative  is  not  intended  as  an  account  of  Hampton's 
military  career,  but  only  as  an  attempt  to  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  him  as  man  and  statesman ;  but,  in  order  to  do 
this  effectively,  it  is  necessary  to  point  out  the  most  marked 
of  his  characteristics  developed  in  war,  which  constituted, 
in  great  measure,  his  strength  when  at  the  helm  in  civil 
storms,  and  the  knowledge  of  which  gave  his  people  un- 


WAR  37 

bounded  confidence  in  him.  Only  a  short  outline  will  be 
given  of  his  military  career,  and  a  few  incidents  related  illus- 
trating his  possession  of  the  qualities  referred  to.  Such  an 
account,  to  be  of  any  value  at  all,  must  be  not  only  conscien- 
tiously accurate  in  intent,  but  the  writer  of  it  must  also  be  in 
a  position  to  know  what  is  true  in  regard  to  friends,  and  the 
same  with  respect  to  former  antagonists :  he  must  be  able  to 
sift  the  evidence  and  arrive  at  the  real  facts.  The  present 
writer  believes  himself  to  be  in  this  position.  He  has  already 
published  an  account  of  the  chief  parts  of  Hampton's  mili- 
tary career  (Hampton  and  His  Cavalry  in  '64),  and  in 
writing  it  had  the  advantage  of  access  to  private  notes  and 
memoranda  of  the  General  kindly  lent  him  for  that  purpose, 
which  were  afterward  burned  in  the  destruction  of  the 
Hampton  residence  in  1899 ;  he  also  made  use  of  and  studied 
other  available  original  sources  of  information,  as  well  doc- 
umentary as  oral  data  from  persons  then  living,  and  himself 
possessed  some  personal  knowledge  of  the  subject.  It  is  not 
for  a  moment  denied  by  the  writer,  that  recollections  of  the 
"long  ago,"  when 

Forth  from  its  scabbard,  high  in  air 
Beneath  Virginia's  sky, 

he  first  beheld  Hampton's  "stainless  sword,"  or  that  the  im- 
pressions of  some  few  great  events  of  which  he  happened  to 
be  a  spectator,  still  send  a  very  vivid  thrill  through  the  long 
interval  of  years  and  stir  the  blood.  But  he  does  emphat- 
ically deny  that  these  feelings  bias  his  judgment  of  military 
events,  or  affect  his  relation  of  them.  To  magnify  or  exag- 
gerate about  one's  own  side  in  the  past  contest  would  be 
unpardonable;  to  misstate  about  the  other,  contemptible. 

In  May,  1861,  Hampton  was  commissioned  as  colonel,  and 
authorized  to  raise  a  body  to  be  composed  of  infantry,  cav- 
alry, and  artillery,  combined  in  a  "legion"  designed  to  act 
together  as  an  independent  command.  After  a  little  expe- 
rience in  a  great  war,  it  was  found  that  such  an  organi- 
zation was  impracticable:  the  infantry  became  a  body  to 
itself,  and  the  cavalry  and  artillery  were  otherwise  incor- 
porated. A  considerable  portion  of  the  cost  of  organizing 
and  arming  the  Legion  was  paid  for  by  Hampton  from  his 


449055 


38  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

own  purse.  He  went  to  Virginia  with  his  Legion  in  June, 
and  they  took  part  in  the  first  battle  of  Manassas  (Bull  Run) . 
This  was  a  great  historic  battle,  much  written  about,  and 
the  important  part  taken  in  it  by  the  General  is  not  widely 
understood.  We  shall,  therefore,  quote  here  the  exact  words 
of  Major  T.  G.  Barker,  who  was  adjutant  of  the  "Legion"  in 
that  engagement,  and  whose  military  services  during  four 
years  of  war,  and  subsequent  high  position  at  the  bar,  and 
personally,  are  a  guarantee  of  accuracy : 

"The  Legion  was  formed  and  became  the  apple  of  his  eye. 
It  went  to  Virginia  in  June,  1861,  and  in  a  few  short  weeks 
thereafter  it  received  its  first  baptism  in  war.  On  July  21st, 
before  daylight,  the  Legion  was  dropped  from  the  cars  at 
Manassas  Junction  and  at  eight  o'clock  a.  m.  it  was  marched 
thence  under  the  very  indefinite  order  'To  go  in  the  direction 
of  the  firing.'  Under  these  orders  it  preceeded  westward  on 
the  Sudley  Ford  road  toward  the  left  of  General  Beaure- 
gard's  line,  where  heavy  firing  was  heard,  and  at  ten  o'clock 
it  took  position  on  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  on  the  brow  of  a 
hill,  on  which  stood  a  farmhouse  known  in  history  as  the 
'Robinson  house.'  After  half-past  nine  on  that  morning, 
this  hill  was  the  extreme  left  point  of  the  Confederate  line, 
facing  north,  and  it  became  the  pivot  of  ground  around  which 
the  Federal  Army,  advancing  from  the  north,  from  the  west, 
and  finally  from  the  south  and  rear  of  the  position,  wrapped 
the  apparently  irresistible  folds  of  its  great  flank  movement. 

"It  is  very  slightly  known  in  history,  but  it  is  none  the 
less  a  fact,  that  on  that  day  Colonel  Hampton,  with  six 
infantry  companies  of  the  Hampton  Legion,  held  that  'Robin- 
son hill'  under  a  continual  fire  from  before  ten  o'clock  in 
the  morning  until  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon;  that,  after 
twice  refusing  to  withdraw,  he  at  last  retired  under  per- 
emptory orders  from  General  Beauregard  communicated  by 
General  Barnard  E.  Bee;  and  that,  when  he  did  at  last 
withdraw  his  command,  the  Legion  fell  back  upon  the 
plateau  upon  which  Stonewall  Jackson's  command  was 
posted.  Before  the  Legion  left  the  'Robinson  hilP  the 
enemy  was  firing  upon  it  from  the  north,  and  from  the  west, 


WAR  39 

and  from  the  south,  and  rear,  with  infantry  and  with 
artillery. 

"The  Legion  had  held  its  position  on  the  'Robinson  hill' 
all  day  without  any  supporting  force  near  it.  When  it  with- 
drew, under  orders  to  fall  back  upon  General  Jackson's 
position,  it  took  position  on  the  right  of  the  new  line,  which 
General  Beauregard  had  formed,  by  facing  to  the  rear,  and 
the  Legion  kept  that  position  on  the  extreme  right  in  the 
two  charges,  which  were  made,  first  up  to,  and  afterward 
past  the  'Henry  house.'  In  the  first  of  these  charges  Colonel 
Hampton  was  wounded,  and  the  Legion,  under  command 
of  Captain  James  Conner,  occupied  the  right  of  the  line  in 
the  second  charge.  Conner's  company,  the  Washington  Light 
Infantry,  from  Charleston,  was  right  company  of  the  Legion, 
and,  therefore,  the  extreme  right  of  Beauregard's  line  in  the 
charge  past  the  'Henry  house,'  which  charge  of  the  whole 
line,  simultaneously  with  the  movement  of  General  Kirby 
Smith  on  the  left,  put  the  enemy  to  flight  and  decided  the 
fate  of  a  most  eventful  day. 

"I  do  not  propose  to  attempt  to  recount  General  Hampton's 
work  in  the  war,  but  this,  his  first  experience  in  battle,  has 
been  so  little  known  and  so  clearly  revealed  the  possession  by 
him  of  the  true  military  instinct,  and  of  the  qualities,  which 
made  him  afterward  a  great  soldier,  that  it  is  not  out  of 
place  to  speak  of  it  at  some  length. 

"In  his  subsequent  career  I  never  knew  him  to  encounter 
the  responsibilities  of  a  new  and  larger  command,  or  to  be 
thrown  in  contact  with  troops  to  whom  he  was  a  stranger, 
or  with  officers,  who  met  him  with  more  or  less  prejudice 
against  him,  as  a  civilian,  or  a  volunteer  officer  having  had 
no  military  education,  without  witnessing  the  effect  of  his 
force  as  a  commander  upon  all  who  came  under  his  command 
or  in  contact  with  him. 

"I  do  not  believe  any  officer  in  the  Southern  Army  received 
such  deep  and  loving  personal  devotion  from  his  soldiers 
and  officers  as  General  Hampton  seemed  to  compel  by  his 
irresistible  charm  of  character.  No  commanding  officer  was 
more  implicitly  trusted  by  his  men  in  battle,-  or  in  camp,  or 
on  the  march. 


40 

"I  cannot  pretend  to  paint  him,  or  to  recall  his  brilliant 
career  as  a  military  hero,  but  if  any  one  wishes  to  know 
what  he  was,  let  him  go  to  the  survivors  of  the  men,  whose 
lives  he  so  often  held  in  his  hands,  with  whom  he  so  con- 
stantly risked  his  own  life  during  four  memorable  years  of 
danger  and  of  death,  and  let  him  ask  those  men  how  his 
officers  and  men  valued  General  Hampton,  and  why  they 
thought  so  much  of  him,  and  he  will  learn  from  the  best 
witnesses  the  secret  of  his  power  and  success  as  a  commander 
of  men." 

In  the  May  number,  1885,  of  the  Century  Magazine  will  be 
found  an  article  written  by  General  Hampton  himself  on  the 
Legion  at  Manassas. 

After  Hampton  resumed  command  of  the  Legion,  on  suffi- 
ciently recovering  from  his  wound,  he  was  presented  with  a 
regimental  flag  by  President  Davis  in  person,  the  command 
being  formed  in  three  sides  of  a  square  to  receive  him.  An 
account  may  be  found  in  the  Richmond  Dispatch. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  War  General  Hampton  had 
accumulated  unsold  on  his  Mississippi  plantation  4700  bales 
of  cotton.  At  the  time  of  which  we  are  about  to  speak  it  was 
worth  in  United  States  currency  probably  about  f  1,200,000, 
but  later  on  nearly  four  times  that  amount.  He  urged  upon 
the  Confederate  government  to  ship  this  cotton  to  Europe, 
invest  the  proceeds  in  arms  and  bring  them  back  to  the  Con- 
federacy for  the  army's  use.  But  nothing  was  done  about  it, 
and  when  New  Orleans  was  captured,  and  the  Mississippi 
threatened,  the  cotton  was  burned  lest  it  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  Federals.  Major  Barker  relates  the  conclusion  of  this 
matter : 

"On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  when  the  news  of  this  heavy 
loss  reached  camp,  I  rode  out  with  Colonel  Hampton,  and  I 
wondered  at  the  equanimity  with  which  he  bore  the  loss.  It 
was  a  revelation  of  character.  I  truly  believe  that  he  felt 
the  disappointment  of  his  pet  scheme  for  procuring  arms 
for  the  soldiers  far  more  than  the  large  pecuniary  loss.  I 
remember  his  then  repeating  as  he  rode  along  the  favorite 
lines : 

Ah,  well!  for  us  all  some  sweet  hope  lies, 
Deeply  burled  from  human  eyes. 


WAR  41 

"Such  was  the  temper,  and  such  the  philosophy  or  faith 
of  this  heroic  man." 

It  is  rather  remarkable  that  out  of  the  officers  and  men 
orginally  composing  the  Legion  there  were  two  who  became 
lieutenant-generals,  one  a  major-general,  and  three  brigadier- 
generals. 

After  Manassas  Hampton  continued,  on  recovering  from 
his  wound,  to  serve  with  his  Legion  in  General  Joseph  E. 
Johnston's  army  in  Virginia.  When  McClellan  commenced 
his  campaign  in  the  following  spring  at  Yorktown,  Hampton 
was  there  confronting  him.  At  Seven  Pines  he  was  wounded 
in  a  desperately  fought  field. 

In  May,  1862,  he  was  made  brigadier-general  of  infantry. 
Early  in  the  autumn  of  1862  he  was  assigned  to  the  First 
Cavalry  Brigade  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  "Mac- 
Gregor  on  his  native  heath,"  a  fish  put  in  its  element.  It 
was  after  Sharpsburg,  in  October,  that  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  struck 
out  on  his  famous  raid  to  Chambersburg,  Pa.  Hampton  was 
second  in  command,  and  it  was  then  that  he  and  A.  K. 
McClure  first  met,  as  described  by  the  latter,  which  has  been 
referred  to.  Hampton  was  responsible  for  safe-guarding 
private  property,  and  it  was  safer  so  than  it  would  have  been 
under  the  present  police  of  most  of  our  cities.  Nothing  what- 
ever of  private  property  was  touched,  except  for  subsistence, 
and  for  that  and  the  horses  impressed  the  regular  quarter- 
master receipts  were  given  the  owners,  thus  enabling  them 
to  claim  and  receive  compensation  from  their  own  govern- 
ment. Mr.  McClure  had  a  "model  farm"  just  outside  of  the 
town,  and  was  spending  a  day  or  two  of  holiday  there.  None 
of  his  fancy  poultry  or  blooded  calves  or  lambs  were 
molested,  or  the  favorite  trout  in  the  spring,  or  anything 
else.  No  soldiers  were  allowed  to  enter  private  houses.  Mr. 
McClure  invited  some  of  the  officers  to  take  coffee  after  din- 
ner, and  smoke  in  his  library,  and  there  they  talked  together 
about  the  current  topics  of  the  day,  just  as  gentlemen  would 
do  in  time  of  peace,  but  Mr.  McClure  noticed  that,  in  the 
free  references  to  the  relative  merits  of  different  com- 
manders, no  allusion  was  ever  made  to  the  position.,  or  num- 
bers of  troops  at  that  time.  We  cannot  help  thinking,  though, 


42  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

that,  in  this  instance,  the  host  was  inclined  to  "speed  the 
going  guest." 

In  the  winter  of  1862-63  Hampton  guarded  the  crossings  of 
the  upper  Rappahannock,  near  Brandy  and  Stevensburg,  and 
from  there  led  in  person  a  number  of  daring  expeditions  in 
the  rear  of  the  Federal  Army  near  Fredericksburg,  capturing 
prisoners  and  commissary  and  quartermaster  stores  in  large 
quantities.  He  was  fond  of  choosing  the  most  inclement 
weather,  particularly  snow-storms  and  sleet,  for  these  expe- 
ditions, and  would  thus  pounce  down  unsuspected  in  the 
darkness  and  confusion,  and  be  off  with  his  "plunder"  before 
daylight.  At  the  celebrated  cavalry  battle  of  Brandy  Station, 
June  9,  1863,  he  exhibited  conspicuous  personal  valor  and 
professional  ability.  It  was  here  that  his  brother  Frank 
Hampton — noted,  among  other  things,  so  greatly  for  amia- 
bility that  he  never  had  a  private  enemy — met  his  death  in 
the  forefront  of  battle.  At  Gettysburg  he  was  with  Stuart's 
command.  There  is — and  probably  always  will  be — a  con- 
troversy as  to  how  far  General  Lee  was  placed  at  a  disad- 
vantage from  being  deprived  of  the  use  of  "the  eyes  and  the 
ears  of  the  army,"  through  Stuart's  being  on  the  right  (east) 
flank  of  Hooker's  (Meade's)  marching  column  on  its  advance 
to  Gettysburg.  However  that  may  be,  Hampton  had  no 
responsibility  whatever  in  the  matter,  having  been  second 
in  command,  and  not  consulted  about  the  movement.  Hamp- 
ton reached  the  field  in  time  for  effective  fighting.  He 
received  two  sabre-cuts  in  the  head,  and  a  shrapnel  wound  in 
the  thigh,  and  was  disabled,  but  not  before  he  had  success- 
fully repelled  and  driven  off  after  a  sanguinary  engagement 
a  vastly  superior  force.  The  brigade  had  twenty-one  of  its 
twenty-three  field  officers  killed,  or  wounded  during  the 
Gettysburg  campaign.  But  Hampton  was  soon  back  in  the 
field  again,  as  will  be  remembered  from  the  incident  about 
"Blank"  in  the  Mine  Run  campaign  of  November,  1863. 

On  August  3,  1863,  he  was  commissioned  major-general. 
During  the  winter  of  1863-4  he  was  near  Milford  picketing 
the  Rapidan  and  Rappahannock  rivers  on  the  right  of  the 
army,  about  sixty  miles  by  road  from  Richmond.  On  the 
morning  of  February  29,  it  was  discovered  by  his  scouts 


WAR  43 

that  the  Federal  infantry  and  cavalry  were  moving.  This 
proved  to  be  merely  a  feint  on  the  part  of  the  infantry  to 
divert  attention  from  Kilpatrick,  who  marched  with  a  cav- 
alry force  of  nearly  4,000  picked  men  on  Sunday  evening, 
February  28th,  for  the  purpose  of  dashing  round  the  right 
flank  of  Lee's  army  and  capturing  Richmond  unawares, 
Dahlgren,  leading  the  advance  with  460  men,  intending  to 
cross  the  river  above  the  city,  and  cooperate  from  the  south 
side  with  the  rest  of  the  expedition.  Ascertaining  this, 
Hampton  started  in  pursuit  without  a  moment's  delay, 
taking  with  him  306  troopers  and  a  part  of  a  horse-artillery 
battery,  all  that  could  be  spared  from  pickets  at  such  short 
notice.  Sunday  night  had  been  almost  summer-like  in  tem- 
perature, but  it  proved  a  "weather-breeder,"  as  Hampton 
thought  and  prayed  it  would,  for  Tuesday  opened  with  a 
snow  and  sleet  storm,  which  increased  in  severity  as  the  day 
advanced,  and  the  night  closed  in  pitch  dark,  as  well.  About 
ten  o'clock  at  night  the  camp  fires  of  Kilpatrick  were  made 
out  near  Atlee's  Station,  about  ten  miles  north  of  Richmond. 
Hampton  decided  at  once  to  attack  with  vigor,  counting  upon 
the  storm  and  darkness  concealing  the  small  number  of  his 
men.  He  dismounted  one  hundred  troopers,  supported  by 
the  rest  mounted  on  each  flank,  with  orders,  when  the  pickets 
were  encountered,  not  to  return  their  fire,  but  to  rush  in  on 
the  main  body.  Complete  silence  was  enjoined,  until  the 
camp  itself  was  reached,  when  all  the  yells  that  throats  could 
furnish  were  to  be  poured  forth,  for  dear  life.  In  connection 
with  this,  his  two  pieces  of  artillery  were  to  open,  firing  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  and  making  all  the  noise  practicable. 
The  plan  worked  out  perfectly.  It  was  a  complete  surprise, 
and  Kilpatrick,  supposing  himself  attacked  by  a  large  force, 
made  haste  to  get  away,  leaving  rations  cooking  on  the  fires 
and  other  good  things — much  to  the  satisfaction  of  Hamp- 
ton's famished  troopers — and  also  one  loaded  wagon  with 
horses  attached,  and  a  caisson  of  ammunition.  He  was  cut 
off  from  return  to  his  own  army,  pursued,  and  forced  to  seek 
Ben  Butler  of  the  Army  of  the  James,  and  his  command  had 
to  be  shipped  back  by  steamers  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
He  says  in  his  official  report,  that  learning  Hampton  "was 


44  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

after  him" — as  he  expressed  it — "with  a  large  force  of 
mounted  infantry  and  cavalry,  and  four  pieces  of  artillery," 
who  had  attacked  him  the  night  before,  he  "decided  to  move 
by  the  nearest  route  to  General  Butler's  lines  at  New  Kent 
Courthouse."  The  "large  force"  numbered,  after  deducting 
the  necessary  details  for  scouts  and  pickets,  less  than  three 
hundred  men.  The  losses  officially  reported  by  Kilpatrick 
on  his  expedition  were  340.  Meantime  Dahlgren's  small 
party  had  been  otherwise  destroyed,  and  Richmond  was 
saved.  Hampton  was  thanked  for  his  succor  thus  rendered 
in  a  general  order  from  the  Commandant  at  Richmond. 

On  May  11,  1864,  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  senior  major-general  of 
cavalry  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  was  mortally 
wounded  and  died  on  the  following  day.  General  Hampton 
became  by  this  event  senior  major-general  of  the  cavalry. 
The  generals  commanding  the  other  two  Divisions — the 
Second  and  Third,  his  own  being  the  First — would  have  to 
report  to  his  headquarters,  when  their  Divisions  were  under 
his  immediate  command,  but  otherwise  to  army  headquarters. 
If  considered  a  corps,  all  division  commanders  would  report 
always  to  corps  headquarters.  On  August  11,  1864,  by 
"Special  Order  No.  189.  vii,"  this  drawback  to  the  efficiency 
of  the  cavalry  was  removed,  and  he  was  assigned  the  com- 
mand of  all  the  cavalry  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
and  division  commanders  were  ordered  to  report  to  him.  It 
is  a  pity  this  had  not  been  done  before. 

Taking  command  on  May  10,  1864,  Hampton  assumed  the 
responsibility  for  the  cavalry  in  the  hardest  fought,  most 
sanguinary,  and  most  momentous  campaign  of  that  war — 
or  of  any  other.  How  he  acquitted  himself,  the  results,  and 
the  commendations  of  General  Lee  illustrate.  He  com- 
menced at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  closely  succeeded  by 
Spottsylvania,  and  followed  by  almost  continuous  fighting 
until  the  Thirty-days  "Overland  Campaign"  of  General 
Grant  was  ended  by  his  final  defeat  at  Cold  Harbor,  and  the 
transfer  of  his  army  to  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  with  losses 
aggregating  during  that  terrible  month  far  over  sixty 
thousand  men — as  many  as  Lee's  entire  army.  During  that 
awful  month  there  was  not  a  day  that  the  cavalry  was 


WAE  45 

not  engaged,  and  picketing  always  where  not  fighting. 
Hampton  seemed  to  be  omnipresent,  always  at  hand.  For 
the  cavalry  it  was  hopeless  fighting,  too,  and  that  is  the  most 
trying  kind,  for  it  well  knew  that  it  must  always  ulti- 
mately fall  back  daily  before  vastly  superior  numbers,  its 
duty  being  to  check,  as  much  as  possible,  and  develop  the 
position  of  the  opposing  army,  and  allow  its  own  infantry 
and  artillery  time  to  come  up. 

To  appreciate  what  Hampton  accomplished,  when  in  com- 
mand in  1864,  it  is  necessary  to  have  some  idea  of  what  his 
means  of  carrying  on  the  struggle  were,  compared  to  those  of 
his  opponent ;  of  what  his  resources  were  in  number  of  men, 
subsistence,  equipment  as  to  arms,  and  supply  of  horses  and 
forage. 

The  regular  rations  intended  for  each  man  daily  were  a 
half  pound  of  bacon,  or  salt  pork,  and  a  pint  of  corn  meal, 
or  flour,  but  frequently  this  was  from  necessity  reduced  to 
one  half,  and  even  this  often  could  not  be  had  for  days  to- 
gether. This  was  all ;  no  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  or  any  stimulant. 
No  foraging  was  allowed.  Now  and  then  "bull  beef"  would 
be  issued  instead  of  bacon;  and,  in  winter  quarters,  but  not 
until  then,  infinitesimally  small  doses  of  sugar  and  coffee 
were  doled  out. 

In  armament,  the  cavalry  had  usually  only  muzzle-loaders, 
whereas  its  opponents  were  armed  with  excellent  magazine 
(breech-loading)  rifles.  Some  Sharp's  single-shooting, 
breech-loading  carbines,  which  had  been  captured,  were  used, 
but  there  were  few  of  them  and  they  were  very  poor  weapons. 
But  not  only  were  the  rifles  used  by  Hampton  thus  inferior 
in  class,  but  frequently  they  were  not  sufficient  in  number. 

The  horse  supply  was  another  weak  point.  In  the  cavalry 
each  man  furnished,  at  his  own  expense,  his  horse,  and  when 
unserviceable,  must  supply  another,  which  necessitated 
giving  him  a  furlough  home  to  obtain  the  remount,  and  this 
always  at  the  most  inconvenient  time  to  spare  him. 

In  forage  supply  there  were  equal  disadvantages.  As  to 
disparity  in  numbers  of  men,  it  is,  of  course,  needless  to  point 
out  that. 


46  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Hardly  had  the  carnage  at  Cold  Harbor  ended,  and  Grant 
decided  to  abandon  his  attempts  from  that  direction  on  Rich- 
mond, when  Hampton  was  called  upon  for  another  supreme 
effort,  perhaps  the  most  important  of  his  life,  and  one  of  the 
most  important  that  any  cavalry  leader  ever  embarked  upon, 
the  result  of  which,  if  he  had  never  achieved  anything  else, 
would  entitle  him  to  a  place  among  the  greatest  of  the  world's 
commanders.  Early  on  the  morning  of  June  8,  his  scouts 
reported  that  a  large  force  of  cavalry  and  artillery  had 
crossed  the  Pamunkey  River,  and  were  moving  north.  Hamp- 
ton at  once  signaled  this  news  to  General  Lee,  and  dis- 
patched him  a  letter  giving  his  interpretation  of  the  move- 
ment ;  that  Sheridan's  plan  was  to  strike  at  Gordonsville  and 
Charlottesville,  to  destroy  the  railroads  and  stores,  and  then 
to  unite  with  Hunter,  who  was  moving  on  Lynchburg. 
Assuming  this  to  be  the  plan,  he  urged  that  he  be  allowed  to 
endeavor  to  frustrate  these  purposes,  and  after  full  consulta- 
tion with  him,  General  Lee  agreed  to  this. 

General  Hampton  had  read  aright  General  Grant's  inten- 
tions. General  James  H.  Wilson  wras  to  be  ordered  out  from 
Grant's  left  flank  to  destroy  the  railroads  on  the  south  of 
the  James  River  as  far  as  Lynchburg.  Hunter  was  directed 
to  move  up  the  Shenandoah  Valley  toward  Staunton,  and 
Lynchburg.  Sheridan  with  two  divisions  of  cavalry,  with 
artillery,  pontoon  bridges  and  all  the  appointments  of  a 
powerful  flying  column,  was  to  pass  around  Grant's  right  and 
proceed  by  the  way  of  Charlottesville  to  unite  with  Hunter 
and  bear  down  upon  Lynchburg,  destroying  all  railroads  and 
supply  depots  on  his  route  and,  on  his  return,  the  James 
River  Canal.  This  was  an  admirably  conceived  plan,  and  if 
it  had  been  carried  out  successfully  would  have  necessitated 
the  falling  back  of  Lee  from  his  line  of  defense  at  Petersburg 
and  Richmond,  and  thrown  open  to  Federal  occupation  all 
eastern  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  for  the  lines  of  com- 
munication being  destroyed,  the  army  would  have  been  like 
a  human  body  without  arteries  to  maintain  life.  And  there 
was  good  reason  for  Grant  to  suppose  that  the  plan  would 
succeed,  for,  as  he  was  to  besiege  Petersburg,  he  could  spare 
most  of  his  cavalry  and  he  knew  that  Hampton's  force  must 
be  much  depleted  in  both  horses  and  men  by  the  losses  of  the 


WAR  47 

last  month,  and  that,  after  all,  there  is  a  limit  to   the 
endurance  of  human  nature. 

Hampton  was  at  Atlee's  Station  with  the  First  Division 
(after  this  called  Butler's  Division,  because  commanded  by 
General  M.  C.  Butler),  and  Fitzhugh  Lee  with  the  Second 
Division  at  Cold  Harbor. 

Hampton,  with  the  First  Division,  in  light  marching  order, 
but  carrying,  nevertheless,  three  days'  rations,  and  horse-corn 
on  saddles,  hurried  away  on  June  9,  at  daylight,  and  the 
Second  Division  was  ordered  to  follow.  Not  a  soul  knew 
where  they  were  going,  not  even  the  brigade  commanders. 

This  was  to  be  a  cavalry  duel,  pure  and  simple,  there  being 
no  possibility  of  infantry  supports  for  either  side,  if  Hamp- 
ton caught  up  with  Sheridan  before  the  latter 's  junction  with 
Hunter.  Hampton's  force  did  not  exceed  4,700  men  in  his 
two  divisions,  and  he  had  three  batteries  of  horse-artillery 
numbering  in  all  twelve  guns.  Sheridan  had  his  First  and 
Second  Divisions,  numbering  about  9,000  men  in  all,  and  six 
batteries  of  four  guns  each,  making  twenty-four  pieces  in  all. 
These  figures  are  correct,  not  guess-work.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, too,  that  they  carried  magazine  rifles  against  Hamp- 
ton's muzzle-loaders. 

Although  starting  one  day  behind  Sheridan,  Hampton 
had  the  advantage  of  shorter  interior  lines,  and  rode  lighter 
and  faster,  thus  heading  him  off  from  his  objective  point, 
arriving  on  the  evening  of  June  10,  at  Green  Spring  Valley, 
three  miles  from  Trevilian  Station,  the  Second  Division 
reaching  Louisa  Courthouse,  five  miles  distant,  at  about  the 
same  time.  On  this  evening,  Sheridan  crossed  the  North 
Anna  Kiver  at  Carpenter's  Ford,  about  sixty-five  miles  from 
his  starting  point,  camping  on  the  road  leading  to  Trevilian 
Station,  a  few  miles  distant.  Hampton  had  intended  that  his 
coming  should  be  a  surprise  to  his  antagonist,  and  it  was  a 
surprise.  A  scouting  party  of  Hampton's,  sent  out  that  night 
to  ascertain  definitely  Sheridan's  position,  was  supposed  by 
the  latter,  as  we  learn  from  official  reports,  to  have  been 
merely  some  country  militia,  and  the  same  was  thought  of 
Butler's  division,  when  encountered  the  next  morning.  So 
far  all  had  gone  exactly  as  intended. 


48  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTBUCTION 

There  was  a  burning  drought  just  then,  which  had  pre- 
vailed for  weeks.  The  march  had  been  a  very  hard  one  for 
men  and  animals.  But  in  the  evening  the  air  was  crisp  and 
bracing,  coming  from  the  foot-hills  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  which 
were  lighted  up  by  a  glorious  sunset,  and  the  air  was  laden 
with  the  fragrance  of  clover.  Then  for  the  first  time  did 
officers  and  men  know  what  was  before  them ;  that  they  were 
to  grapple  by  sunrise  in  a  death  struggle  with  more  than 
double  their  number. 

Each  look'd  to  sun  and  stream  and  plain, 
As  what  they  ne'er  might  see  again, 

and  then  peacefully  smoked  a  pipe,  cracked  a  joke  or  two,  and 
lay  down  beneath  the  stars  to  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  just — a 
sleep  which  was  to  have  short  waking  for  many  a  poor  boy. 
Hampton  introduced  into  the  cavalry  tactics  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  when  he  took  command — a  new  de- 
parture. Previous  to  that  time,  the  mounted  operations 
had  been  those  most  practised:  he  made  the  dismounted 
fighting  by  far  the  most  important  feature,  while  equally,  as 
before,  preserving  efficiency  for  mounted  charges,  picketing, 
and  scouting.  As  a  consequence  of  this  he  possessed 
mounted  infantry,  as  staunch  and  effective  as  their  brothers 
of  the  line,  which  could  be  dispatched  mounted  from  place  to 
place  with  great  rapidity,  and  "put  in"  and  "drawn  out"  with 
dazzling  suddenness,  thus  multiplying  their  effectiveness  in 
a  manifold  degree,  and  creating,  particularly  in  a  wooded 
country,  the  impression  upon  antagonists  of  a  very  much 
larger  force  than  really  was  present.  Owing  to  the  "property 
qualification"  of  being  obliged  to  furnish  their  own  horses, 
the  troopers  were  usually  of  a  higher  average  of  quality  than 
the  run  of  the  infantry,  mostly  coming  from  farms,  or 
plantations,  acquainted  with  country  life,  and  knowing  how 
to  ride  and  shoot  and  take  care  of  horses,  or  else  they  joined 
the  cavalry  from  the  towns  generally  because  of  possessing 
some  sporting  proclivity.  In  fighting,  after  being  "put  in," 
they  deployed  always  in  open-order,  and  the  line  was  not 
usually  rigidly  held  to  mathematical  accuracy,  each  man — 
though  nominally  "by  the  books"  fighting  as  one  of  three 
"comrades  in  battle" — selecting  for  himself  the  best  cover  he 


WAR  49 

could  find — a  tree,  log,  rail-fence,  ditch,  or  any  irregularity 
in  the  ground,  or  even  a  bush,  if  nothing  else  offered — to 
furnish  protection,  behind  which,  lying  at  length  on  the 
ground,  he  would  fire — never  by  "volley,  always  at  will" — 
covering  his  object.  Although  slowness  of  fire  was  a  terrible 
disadvantage  with  the  muzzle-loaders,  yet  there  was  in  expert 
hands  a  very  much  larger  percentage  of  hits,  and  these  were 
much  more  serious  than  wounds  from  the  magazine  rifle  of 
those  days,  because  the  rifled-musket  with  Minie'  ball  was 
more  accurate  and  had  a  far  greater  range,  and  the  ball  was 
a  heavier  missile.  Hampton,  therefore,  used  his  cavalry  as 
a  "jack  of  all  trades,"  and  "maid  of  all  work"  for  the  army, 
and  when  the  siege  of  Petersburg  settled  down  they  manned 
the  trenches  on  the  extreme  right  flank.  Unless  otherwise 
stated,  by  a  "charge,"  we  always  mean  a  dismounted  charge, 
or  operation. 

During  the  night  of  June  10,  Hampton  matured  his  plan 
of  battle  for  daylight  on  the  following  morning.  It  had  in 
view  no  less  than  the  total  destruction  of  Sheridan's  two 
divisions,  which,  if  accomplished,  would  have  left  Grant  in  a 
very  awkward  position,  practically  without  cavalry,  as  the 
Third  Division  (Wilson's),  operating  toward  Lynchburg 
on  the  south  of  the  James  Elver,  was  handled  so  roughly 
that  it  had  to  be  reorganized  before  regaining  efficiency. 

From  Trevilian  Station,  near  where  Hampton  was,  in  per- 
son, with  the  First  Division  (Butler's),  a  road  ran  in  a  north- 
erly direction  to  Carpenter's  Ford  on  the  North  Anna  River, 
and  on  this  road  was  Sheridan,  south  of  the  river.  The  Sec- 
ond Division  (Fitzhugh  Lee)  was  near  Louisa  Courthouse, 
from  which  a  road  ran  toward  Carpenter's  Ford,  joining  the 
Trevilian  road  at  Clayton's  store.  A  third  road  on  the  left, 
leading  from  Gordonsville,  converged  on  the  Trevilian  road. 

Butler's  Division  was  to  proceed  on  the  Trevilian  road 
and  attack.  The  Second  Division  was  ordered  to  move  down 
the  Louisa  road  toward  Clayton's  store,  and  engage  vigor- 
ously the  foe,  when  met.  A  brigade  from  Butler's  division 
(Rosser's)  was  placed  to  bar  the  passage  of  the  Gordons- 
ville road.  If  carried  out  in  the  way  intended,  Butler's 


50  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

division's  right  flank  would  cover  and  be  covered  by  the  Sec- 
ond Division's  left  flank,  drawing  Sheridan  back  as  they 
advanced  toward  Clayton's  store,  where  the  two  divisions 
forming  a  junction  would  strike  on  front  and  flank. 
Hemmed  in  and  crowded  together  thus,  with  a  river  in  rear 
and  a  bad  ford,  Rosser  at  the  same  time  operating  on  the 
other  flank,  Sheridan  would  be  destroyed.  This  was  no  wild- 
cat scheme,  but  a  carefully  planned,  prudent,  practicable 
measure,  which  ought  to  have  been  thoroughly  successful, 
and  would  then  have  exerted  a  momentous  influence  at  a 
critical  juncture  militarily,  when  public  feeling  at  the  North 
was  very  despondent. 

Butler's  Division  moved  forward  promptly  in  good  style, 
met  Sheridan's  main  force  advancing  on  the  road,  engaged 
them,  first  checked,  and  then  pushed  them  back,  thus  carry- 
ing out  completely  its  part  of  the  programme.  But  unhappily 
the  Commander  of  the  Second  Division  was  not  fortunate  in 
performing  his  share  of  the  enterprise,  but  moved  so  slowly 
and  ineffectually  that  a  large  interval  remained  open  between 
his  left  and  Butler's  right,  perceiving  which,  Custer,  a  very 
alert  officer,  pushed  his  brigade  through  the  gap,  thus  getting 
in  Butler's  rear,  stampeding  his  led-horses,  and  placing  the 
division  in  jeopardy  of  utter  destruction,  as  Sheridan's  entire 
force  was  concentrated  upon  it,  the  Second  Division  (Fitz- 
hugh  Lee)  at  this  moment  being  isolated  and  out  of  action. 
So  far  from  destroying  Sheridan,  it  would  have  now  been 
said  by  any  ordinary  observer,  that  Hampton  himself  was 
devoted  to  destruction.  But  never  did  he  show  in  a  greater 
degree  military  genius,  and  unswerving  equanimity.  With 
the  rapidity  of  lightning,  he  took  in  the  situation,  and  applied 
the  remedy.  Flinging  Rosser's  brigade  mounted,  like  a  thun- 
derbolt, upon  Custer,  he  swept  him  back  with  much  loss,  and 
pushed  him  into  the  Second  Division  (Fitzhugh  Lee),  which 
then  engaged  him.  The  led-horses,  wagons,  and  reserve 
caissons  taken  from  Butler  were  all  recaptured.  Meantime 
Butler's  Division  was  being  fearfully  pressed  by  Sheridan's 
entire  command — except  by  Custer — and  lost  heavily,  but 
in  spite  of  this,  Hampton  drew  them  back,  and  took  a  posi- 
tion to  the  west  on  the  Gordonsville  road  covering  that  place 


WAR  51 

and  Charlottesville,  never  for  a  moment  having  abandoned 
the  purpose  of  barring  the  way  to  Gordonsville.  Any  one 
else  would,  under  the  circumstances,  have  been  quite  content, 
if  he  could  save  the  remnant  of  his  force  by  getting  away,  but 
not  so  Hampton.  He  had  come  there  to  destroy  Sheridan, 
failing  which  (through  no  fault  of  his)  he  was  still  unalter- 
ably determined  to  turn  him  back  from  his  objective  points, 
if  he  had  to  do  it  with  one  division  alone.  His  natural  eye 
for  topography,  developed  in  many  a  hunt,  and  since  then  put 
to  practice  in  battle-fields,  enabled  him  to  seize  at  a  glance 
a  favorable  place  for  making  a  resolute  stand.  Sheridan 
attacked,  as  he  was  compelled  to  do,  if  intending  to  continue 
his  expedition,  but  made  no  impression,  and  desisted  until 
the  following  day,  when  at  about  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, he  renewed  with  great  vigor,  and  finally,  with  despera- 
tion, making  seven  distinct  and  gallant  charges  all  along  the 
line,  which  were  all  repulsed.  At  about  twelve  o'clock  that 
day,  the  Second  Division  Commander  (Fitzhugh  Lee)  got 
up  and  reported.  One  of  his  brigades  reinforced  the  left  of 
the  line,  and  the  other  made  a  detour  and  attacked  on  Sheri- 
dan's right  flank.  Sheridan  was  defeated  with  a  loss  of  695 
prisoners,  and  retreated  back  to  his  army  without  accomplish- 
ing any  of  the  objects  of  his  expedition.  Hampton  pursued, 
and  inflicted  considerable  further  injury,  but  was  hampered 
by  having  no  pontoon  train,  which  he  never  possessed  at  any 
time,  while  Sheridan  was  well  equipped  in  that,  as  in  other 
respects.  None  of  the  railroad  track  was  injured,  except 
about  two  hundred  feet,  if  so  much,  at  Trevilian  Station, 
which  was  as  quickly  replaced.  Hampton  had  no  infantry 
reinforcements  and  no  infantry  were  at  Gordonsville,  or  any- 
where nearer  than  Richmond.  In  his  official  report  of  this 
expedition  made  to  General  Grant,  Sheridan  says,  "I  regret 
my  inability  to  carry  out  your  instructions."  The  only  result 
was  some  two  hundred  feet  or  less,  of  rails  temporarily 
removed  at  Trevilian  Station.  On  June  25,  General  Lee 
wrote  to  General  Hampton  thanking  him  and  his  command 
for  causing  Sheridan's  "expedition  to  end  in  defeat."  The 
official  report  of  General  Hampton  commends  the  Second 
Division  Commander  for  his  conduct  in  the  evening  of  the 


52  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

Sunday  (last  day)  fighting,  but  generously  makes  no  refer- 
ence to  the  first  day. 

Sheridan  having  crossed  to  the  south  side  of  the  James 
Eiver,  and  rejoined  his  army,  Hampton  quietly  crossed,  too, 
for  Lee  had  other  and  immediate  work  for  him.  General 
James  H.  Wilson  with  his  own,  and  Kautz's  Division  of  cav- 
alry, numbering  together  6,714  "effective  mounted  men,"  had 
been  sent  on  June  22,  by  Grant  to  destroy  Lee's  lines  of 
communication  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  as  has  been 
stated  was  the  plan  in  connection  with  Sheridan's  operations 
on  the  north  of  the  James.  This  latter  plan  was  based  upon 
the  supposition  by  General  Grant  that  Sheridan  would  be 
able  to  detain  Hampton  from  molesting  Wilson.  Indeed  it  is 
merely  justice  to  Wilson  to  add  that  he  had  only  expressed 
the  opinion  that  he  could  attain  the  objects  desired,  pro- 
vided Hampton  were  prevented  from  following  him.  Wilson 
having  had  several  days  head-start,  succeeded  in  doing  some 
harm  to  the  South  Side  Kailroad  and  collected  about  5,000 
horses,  according  to  Federal  reports,  in  spite  of  the  gallant 
efforts  against  him  made  by  W.  H.  F.  Lee  with  a  portion  of 
his  division  (Third),  an  inadequate  force  in  numbers.  At 
Staunton  Kiver  Bridge  he  was  turned  back,  or  decided  to  go 
no  farther,  but  unhappily  in  returning  he  was  to  encounter 
Hampton.  He  fortified,  as  well  as  he  could,  when  attacked, 
but  the  result  was  rout,  with  the  loss  of  over  1,300  prisoners, 
all  the  horses  and  other  property  taken  from  the  inhabitants, 
and  all  his  artillery,  consisting  of  sixteen  pieces,  and  all  his 
wagons.  The  remnant  of  his  troopers,  many  having  been 
killed  and  wounded,  reached  camp  eventually  entirely  disor- 
ganized, and  broken  up  as  a  command.  If  the  officer  in 
charge  of  the  Second  Division  had  realized  the  importance 
of  keeping  closer  in  touch  with  his  commanding  general,  thus 
being  an  integral  part  of  a  -complete  whole,  rather  than  an 
independent  unit,  it  is  probable  that  hardly  a  man  of  Wil- 
son's but  would  have  been  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  the  net 
which  Hampton  was  drawing. 

Thus  had  Hampton  ended  the  project  to  starve  out  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  by  destroying  its  lines  of  com- 
munication. 


WAR  53 

Another  remarkable  performance  of  Hampton's  was  the 
cattle-raid  in  September,  1864,  by  which  he  brought  into 
camp  a  herd  of  beeves  sufficient  to  furnish  rations  of  one 
pound  of  meat  a  day  for  forty  days  to  fifty  thousand  men. 
If  it  had  not  been  actually  done,  the  exploit  would  be  thought 
impossible,  and  yet  it  was  not  a  wild,  sensational  affair,  but 
wise  and  prudent,  when  you  understand  it. 

Near  Coggin's  Point  on  the  James  River,  less  than  five 
miles  east  of  City  Point,  and  opposite  to  Westover,  was  a 
herd  of  2,468  fine  large  beef -cattle  belonging  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  This  Hampton  determined  to  capture.  To 
do  this,  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  almost  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  City  Point,  General  Grant's  headquarters,  and  the 
base  of  supplies  for  his  army,  where  immense  stores  were 
kept.  One  would  have  supposed  the  locality  to  be  safer  from 
intrusion  than  Washington.  It  was  behind  the  immense 
masses  of  infantry  of  the  army,  all  the  approaches  carefully 
guarded;  easterly  an  unfordable  river — Blackwater — all 
picketed ;  on  the  James  Eiver,  forts  and  gun-boats  only  three 
miles  or  so  from  the  cattle-yards — within  hail  of  General 
Grant's  own  headquarters.  If  before  it  had  been  done  any 
soldier  of  either  army  had  been  asked  if  the  deed  were  prac- 
ticable, he  would  have  answered  not  more  so  than  to  capture 
the  fortress  of  Gibraltar  with  a  steam-launch.  And  yet  it 
was  practicable,  in  great  measure  because  deemed  by  every- 
one impossible,  and  therefore  never  thought  of. 

On  September  14,  Hampton  started  on  this  expedition, 
taking  with  him  a  very  light  flying  column  consisting  of  the 
Third  Division,  two  detached  brigades,  and  100  picked  men, 
in  all  about  3,000  troopers.  He  marched  rapidly  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  thus  throwing  hostile  scouts  off  the  trail 
of  his  intentions,  no  one  in  his  own  command  among  the  men, 
or  among  the  officers  beyond  the  staff,  knowing  where  he 
was  going,  and  bivouacked  quietly  for  the  night.  Making  a 
very  early  start  the  next  morning,  he  dashed  forward  on  a 
nearly  northerly  route,  thus  going  round  the  left  flank  of  the 
Federals,  and  reached  Cook's  Bridge  on  the  Blackwater 
River,  during  the  day.  He  was  now  due  south  of  Coggin's 
Point,  and  only  ten  miles  from  where  he  intended  to  break 


54  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

through  their  pickets.  The  bridge  at  this  point  had  been 
destroyed  and  it  was  for  that  very  reason  that  he  selected 
this  place  for  crossing.  He  was  aware  that  his  opponents 
very  well  knew  that  he  was  possessed  of  no  pontoons,  and 
would  therefore  not  keep  as  close  watch,  as  they  ought  to 
have  done  in  this  direction.  In  a  few  hours  at  night  a  tem- 
porary bridge  was  constructed  by  the  engineers,  horses  and 
men  meantime  resting  and  eating,  and  by  midnight  the  river 
was  crossed  and  the  march  resumed.  About  nine  miles  north 
of  the  Blackwater,  near  Sycamore  Church,  was  the  largest 
picket  detachment  nearest  to  the  herd,  about  two  miles 
further  on,  and  to  the  right  and  left  were  smaller  pickets. 
By  an  impetuous  charge  the  large  picket  was  demolished 
after  a  stiff  fight,  and  scattered,  and  then  the  smaller  ones 
dealt  with  in  detail.  By  another  detachment  Hampton  at 
the  same  time  dislodged  a  post  about  three  miles  from  Fort 
Powhattan  on  the  James  River,  and  held  the  roads  to  prevent 
relief  from  there,  while  another  detachment  rushed  forward 
and  seized  the  roads  from  City  Point,  thus  preventing  inter- 
ruption from  that  quarter.  As  much  noise  as  possible  was 
made,  and  everything  in  sight  incontinently  ridden  down,  in 
order  to  create  a  belief  in  large  numbers  and  to  produce 
a  panic,  in  which  great  success  was  attained.  Flying  pickets, 
as  well  as  fleeing  "reliable  citizens,"  reported  "an  immense 
force,"  and  "more  coming."  General  Kautz,  whose  cavalry 
was  driven  in,  estimated  the  number  with  Hampton  at 
14,000  men.  Great  alarm  was  felt  on  account  of  the  immense 
stores  in  peril.  To  make  matters  worse,  General  Lee  had,  by 
pre-arrangement  with  Hampton,  made  a  feint  to  divert  atten- 
tion, and  Butler's  (First)  Division  did  the  same,  and  it 
looked  on  the  lines  as  if  a  general  engagement  was  inaugu- 
rated. General  Grant  was  temporarily  absent  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  General  Meade,  with  the  entire  responsibility  on 
his  hands,  was  under  great  anxiety  and  excitement,  making 
the  wires  hot  in  every  direction  with  calls  for  help.  It  is  said 
that  he  used  some  strong  language,  as  he  would  sometimes 
do  on  occasion.  No  doubt  he  thought  of  curses  as  did  the 
royal  ladies — 

Let  them  have  scope,  though  what  they  will  Impart 
Help  nothing  else,  yet  do  they  ease  the  heart. 


WAR  55 

General  Hampton  could  not  obtain  relief  in  that  way,  for 
he  never  "swore  like  a  trooper,"  or  at  all.  Meantime  Hamp- 
ton had  some  stores  taken  and  some  destroyed,  in  order  to 
blind  his  opponents  to  his  real  purpose,  and  worked  quietly 
at  removing  the  cattle.  This  was  easily  done  by  dividing 
them  into  small  herds,  when  they  followed  each  other  with 
docility.  It  was  hardly  later  than  eight  o'clock  a.  m.  when 
the  withdrawal  began  toward  Blackwater  River,  and  before 
reaching  the  stream  all  portions  of  his  command  were  united, 
when  he  crossed  and  destroyed  the  bridge.  He  kept  the 
roads  open  with  his  cavalry  and  got  his  cattle  safely  to 
camp.  Never  was  such  a  cheering  heard,  as  burst  from  the 
soldiers,  when  they  saw  all  those  "Hampton  steaks,"  and 
understood  from  where  he  had  "lifted"  them.  General  Lee 
wrote  a  letter  complimenting  and  thanking  him  for  this 
exploit  and  the  valuable  addition  to  the  army's  larder.  In 
addition  to  the  beeves,  many  horses,  and  eleven  wagons  were 
taken,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  blankets  and  army 
stores  was  brought  off,  and  many  burned,  and  there  were 
sardines,  pickles,  and  the  like,  galore  for  many  a  day.  The 
prisoners  taken  away  amounted  to  304;  Hampton's  entire 
losses  to  sixty-one.  Grant  remarked  to  Meade  in  a  telegram 
from  Harper's  Ferry,  that  it  was  "a  big  haul." 

In  conformity  with  the  intention  to  give  but  a  brief  outline 
of  Hampton's  military  career,  only  referring  to  a  very  few 
of  the  notable  incidents  illustrating  his  characteristics,  the 
writer  will  now  submit  a  short  account  of  the  salient  features 
of  the  battle  of  Burgess  Mill,  as  it  is  usually  called,  occurring 
on  October  27, 1864.  This  battle  has  special  historic  interest, 
because  it  is  the  counterpart  of  that  of  Five  Forks,  which 
took  place  about  five  months  later,  and  there  the  right  flank 
of  Lee's  army  was  turned,  which  compelled  the  withdrawal 
from  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  the  extinction  of  the 
Confederacy.  It  also  serves  the  writer's  end  by  showing  the 
distinguished  ability  displayed  by  Hampton  with  decisive 
effects  upon  the  action  fought.  These  battles  were  alike  in 
all  respects,  save  the  results,  as  the  reader  will  perceive,  if  he 
will  follow  this  narrative  assisted  by  a  glance  at  a  map. 


56  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  the  plan  of  General  Grant's 
siege  operations  at  Petersburg,  after  his  assaults  had  been 
repelled,  was  to  cut  the  lines  of  communication  of  Lee's 
army,  and  thus  compel  the  withdrawal  from  Petersburg  and 
Richmond — each  of  which  was  but  part  of  a  whole,  in  a  mili- 
tary sense.  To  effect  this  purpose  he  had  dispatched  Sheri- 
dan and  Wilson,  but  they  were  frustrated  in  their  attempt 
by  Hampton,  as  related.  Grant  then  proceeded  to  press  for- 
ward systematically  on  his  left  flank  westerly  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  Petersburg  and  Weldon  Railroad.  There  was 
persistent  fighting  for  weeks  for  that  object,  and  he  finally 
effected  it.  The  other  line  of  communication  left  to  Lee,  and 
which  was  essential  to  maintaining  his  hold  on  Petersburg 
and  Richmond,  was  the  South  Side  Railroad  from  Peters- 
burg, forming  a  junction  at  Burkeville  with  the  Richmond 
and  Danville  Railroad,  and  thence  south  and  west.  The  pos- 
session of  this  railroad  was  vital  to  Lee.  In  October,  1864, 
and  for  five  months  later,  it  was  covered  by  the  extreme  right 
flank  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  the  cavalry  being 
concentrated,  as  far  as  possible,  in  that  neighborhood  to 
picket  approaches  and  repel  attacks,  the  works  on  Hatcher's 
Run,  and  contiguous  ground  being  held  by  such  infantry  as 
could  be  spared  for  the  purpose,  as  well  as  by  dismounted 
cavalry  in  the  outer  trenches.. 

Great  discouragement  was  prevailing  among  the  people  at 
the  North  with  the  stationary  position  of  Grant,  and  he 
was  strongly  urged  by  the  authorities  to  move  faster.  Grant 
had  replied  by  demanding  reinforcements  of  40,000  addi- 
tional men,  and  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  writing,  these 
had  been  received.  No  more  time  could  be  lost,  if  anything 
of  importance  was  to  be  achieved  before  the  setting  in  of 
winter  would  put  a  stop  to  active  operations.  It  was 
determined,  therefore,  to  make  the  final  great  effort  of  the 
campaign. 

Orders  were  accordingly  issued  by  General  Grant  to  por- 
tions of  his  command  to  move  out  by  half-past  two  a.  m.  on 
October  27,  other  bodies  to  march  at  later  hours,  depending 
upon  position,  so  that  the  advance  would  encounter  the  op- 
posing forces  at  the  desired  point  by  the  first  daylight.  All 


WAR  57 

the  troops  which  could  be  spared  from  manning  the  fortifi- 
cations were  employed,  consisting  of  all  of  the  Second,  Fifth, 
and  Ninth  corps  not  left  in  the  trenches,  and  Gregg's 
Division  of  Cavalry,  the  latter  numbering  5,471  troopers 
after  the  battle,  thus  making  the  entire  force  about  40,000 
strong,  provided  with  four  days'  rations,  so  as  to  hold  the 
positions  intended  to  be  taken.  Benjamin  Butler  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river  was  instructed  to  deliver  an  attack 
there,  so  as  to  distract  attention  from  the  movement  south 
of  the  river,  and  prevent  the  transfer  of  troops  by  Lee's  short 
interior  lines. 

The  Federal  force  initiated  the  operation  in  admirable 
form.  The  Second  Corps  (Hancock's)  had  the  left,  march- 
ing down  the  Vaughan  road  to  Hatcher's  Run,  the  extreme 
right  of  the  Confederate  line,  and  in  connection  with  this 
corps  Gregg's  cavalry  operated.  The  task  before  them  was  to 
extend  around  Lee's  right,  and  thus  cut  it  off  from  the  South 
Side  Railroad.  If  this  had  been  accomplished,  the  battle  of 
Five  Forks  would  never  have  taken  place,  for  it  would  have 
been  forestalled.  It  need  not  be  pointed  out,  that  the  cover- 
ing of  Lee's  necessarily  extended  lines,  with  troops  so 
wonderfully  inferior  in  numbers  to  those  of  his  antagonist, 
required — among  other  things — unsleeping  vigilance  in 
transferring  sufficient  force  to  the  particular  points  attacked. 

By  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  27  October,  Hamp- 
ton's pickets  were  driven  in  all  along  his  line,  from  Arm- 
strong's Mill  on  Hatcher's  Run  to  Moncks-neck  Bridge,  on 
his  extreme  right,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles.  Hancock's 
infantry  crossed  Hatcher's  Run  at  the  Vaughan  road,  and 
Armstrong's  Mill,  and  Gregg's  cavalry  at  Moncks-neck 
Bridge,  two  miles  further  south,  at  the  juncture  of  Hatcher's 
Run  and  Gravely  Run. 

General  A.  P.  Hill,  with  a  part  of  his  corps  and  some  of  the 
cavalry,  occupied  the  works  on  Hatcher's  Run. 

I  do  not  think  it  well  to  recount  the  details  of  the  magnifi- 
cent cavalry  (dismounted,  and  mounted)  fighting  of  the  day, 
for  it  would  prolong  this  part  of  my  narrative  too  much,  and, 
besides,  I  have  already  written  about  it  ("Hampton  and  his 
Cavalry  in  '64" ) ,  and  the  correctness  of  the  account  has  been 


58  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

approved  by  General  Hampton.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  up  to 
four  o'clock  p.  m.  the  cavalry  under  Hampton  covered  and 
successfully  defended  the  right  flank  of  Lee's  army  from  the 
operations  of  Hancock's  Corps,  and  Gregg's  Cavalry,  and 
without  assistance,  up  to  that  time,  from  any  source.  With 
the  stern,  resolute  determination  of  infantry,  with  the  won- 
derful flexibility  of  mounted-infantry,  with  the  lightning-like 
suddenness  of  light  cavalry  mounted,  all  combined  in  the 
same  men,  and  with  horse-artillery  up  to  the  line  of  battle, 
"covering  themselves,"  and  flashing  their  guns  into  the  very 
faces  of  the  foe,  Hampton  on  that  day  safeguarded  the  life  of 
the  army. 

At  four  o'clock  p.  m.,  General  Heth,  of  Hill's  Corps,  with 
his  Division,  crossed  over  Hatcher's  Run  and  made  an  attack 
in  concert  with  Hampton.  As  soon  as  Heth's  rifles  an- 
nounced that  he  was  engaged,  M.  C.  Butler  charged  with  his 
whole  line  (dismounted)  across  an  open  field  and  drove  the 
force  encountered  toward  the  Boydton  road.  At  the  same 
time  W.  H.  F.  Lee  advanced  down  this  road,  his  left  uniting 
with  Butler's  right.  The  Federals  were  thus  enveloped  on 
three  sides  from  a  point  on  the  Quaker  road  to  Burgess  mill- 
pond.  Hancock  was  in  this  way  driven  from  his  position  on 
the  roads,  became  piled  up  in  the  fields  east  of  the  Boydton 
road,  isolated  from  the  support  of  the  other  corps — defeated 
and  obliged  to  retreat  after  night  had  set  in,  back  to  the 
lines  of  his  army. 

The  operations  of  the  two  other  Federal  corps  against  the 
works  effected  nothing.  In  fact,  when  they  struck  the  thick 
wooded  country  and  the  twisting  of  the  runs,  they  became 
separated  from  each  other  and  out  of  touch  with  Hancock's 
Corps,  which  caused  considerable  disputation  afterward 
between  the  different  corps  commanders.  To  deploy  troops 
in  fields  or  open  ground  is  easy  enough,  but  in  the  woods 
it  is  quite  a  different  matter.  An  officer  not  possessing 
some  familiarity  with  wood-craft,  is  as  much  bewildered  as 
a  coal-heaver  in  a  ballroom,  and  hence  many  defeats,  and 
many  thousand  valuable  lives  frequently  sacrificed.  It  was 
the  intuitive  and  developed  skill  of  Hampton  in  topography, 
that  formed  a  great  part  of  his  strength  in  action. 


WAR  59 

So  in  this  way  the  right  flank  of  the  army  was  hermetically 
sealed  up  against  intrusion  for  five  months.  General  Hamp- 
ton received  thanks  for  himself  and  his  command  from  Gen- 
eral Lee. 

There  was  a  very  sad  occurrence  that  evening.  As  Butler 
swept  forward  to  connect  his  right  with  W.  H.  F.  Lee's  left, 
Hampton  was  in  front,  and  his  son  Preston,  who  was  aide- 
de-camp  on  his  staff,  fell  mortally  wounded,  and  almost  at 
the  same  moment  another  son,  Wade,  temporarily  attached 
to  his  staff,  was  also  struck  down  by  a  bullet.  It  was  only 
possible  for  the  General  to  stop  an  instant,  leap  from  his 
horse,  bend  over  Preston,  kiss  him  tenderly,  whisper  some 
words  in  his  ear,  which  only  he  and  the  angels  heard,  and 
then  gallop  on  with  his  men.  After  daylight  that  morning 
the  air  had  the  fresh  crispness  of  autumn,  and  the  hoar-frost 
glistened  like  silver  in  the  bright  sunlight,  and  the  forest 
leaves  were  gorgeous  in  color.  It  was  a  beautiful  day  until 
toward  evening,  when  a  cold  wintry  rain  set  in,  and  a  black 
wet  night  followed. 

Not  that  in  sooth  o'er  mortal  urn 
Those  things  Inanimate  can  mourn, 

but  to  the  General,  lying  on  the  ground  unsheltered  beneath 
the  cold,  dripping  sky,  sleeplessly  awaiting  the  morning  to 
resume  his  arduous  duties,  the  father's  heart  all  the  while 
with  those  two  boys,  one  stiff  and  stark,  as  he  knew,  the 
other  perhaps  so  too,  it  must  have  seemed  that  nature  was 
mourning  with  him.  Later  on  in  this  narrative  I  shall  point 
out  how,  when  his  own  spirit  was  hovering  on  the  border- 
land of  death,  the  father's  heart  seemed  to  go  back  to  this 
dreary  night. 

If  the  reader  is  sufficiently  interested  to  look  into  the  sub- 
ject further  he  will  find  that  this  battle  of  Burgess  Mill  is 
very  similar  in  the  main  features  to  that  of  Five  Forks, 
except  that  it  was  an  incomparably  more  formidable  demon- 
stration, and  the  tragic  memories  of  the  momentous  result  of 
Five  Forks  lend  to  this  engagement  a  special  importance. 

At  the  battle  of  Five  Forks  there  were  three  Confederate 
divisions  of  cavalry,  numbering  in  all  about  7,000  men,  about 
one-third  more  than  Hampton  could  muster  at  Burgess  Mill, 


60  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  nearly  a  third  more  than  he  had  at  Trevilian.  Sheridan 
had  but  13,209  men  by  returns,  considerably  less  than  double 
the  Confederates,  and  the  latter  should  have  known  the 
ground  well.  The  Confederates  faced  nearly  in  the  direction 
of  Dinwiddie  Courthouse,  with  Picket's  Infantry  in  the 
centre,  all  the  cavalry  on  the  right,  except  one  division,  which 
was  held  in  reserve  north  of  Hatcher's  Run,  and  never  made 
use  of  at  all.  The  Federal  infantry  (Warren)  came  up  the 
run  (westerly)  unobserved,  turned  Picket's  flank,  and  getting 
in  his  rear,  doubled  him  up.  Thus  was  practically  ended  the 
war,  and  that  this  would  not  have  been  the  case  if  Hampton 
had  been  in  command,  was  General  Lee's  opinion,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  following  letter  to  General  Hampton : 

New  Cartersville,  August  1,  1865. 
MY  DEAB  GENEBAL, 

I  was  very  much  gratified  at  the  reception  of  your  letter  of  5th  ultimo.     I  have 
been  very  anxious  concerning  you,  and  could  obtain  no  satisfactory  information. 
******** 

You  cannot  regret  as  much  as  I  did,  that  you  were  not  with  us  at  our  final 
struggle.  The  absence  of  the  troops  which  I  had  sent  to  North  and  South  Carolina 
was,  I  believe,  the  cause  of  our  immediate  disaster.  Our  small  force  of  cavalry 
(a  large  portion  of  our  men,  who  had  been  sent  to  the  interior  to  winter  their 
horses,  had  not  rejoined  their  regiments)  was  unable  to  resist  the  united  cavalry 
under  Sheridan,  which  obliged  me  to  detach  Picket's  Division  to  Fitz  Lee's  support, 
thereby  weakening  my  main  line,  and  yet  not  accomplishing  my  purpose.  If  you 
had  been  there  with  all  of  our  cavalry,  the  result  at  Five  Forks  would  have  been 
different.  But  how  long  the  contest  could  have  been  prolonged,  It  is  difficult  to  say. 
It  is  over,  and  though  the  present  is  depressing  and  disheartening,  I  trust  the 
future  may  prove  brighter.  We  must  at  least  hope  so,  and  each  one  do  his  part 
to  make  it  so. 
******** 

That  every  happiness  may  attend  you,  and  yours,  is  the  earnest  prayer  of 

Your  friend,  B.  E.  LEE. 

The  parts  of  this  letter  omitted  are  about  matters  having 
no  connection  with  the  quoted  portion. 

At  the  time  Five  Forks  took  place  Hampton  was  in  North 
Carolina,  commanding  all  the  cavalry  of  Gen.  Joseph  John- 
ston's army. 

In  January,  1865,  the  troops  being  in  winter  quarters,  and 
the  campaign  ended,  General  Hampton  was  ordered  to  South 
Carolina  to  command  all  the  cavalry  of  Johnston's  army. 
While  he  had  commanded  the  cavalry  of  Lee's  army,  the 
prisoners  taken  by  his  corps,  and  which  were  recorded  in  the 
returns,  amounted  to  11,000,  but  more  than  that  number 
were  captured,  for  many  were  unrecorded  during  very  active 


WAR  61 

periods.  By  the  returns  of  December  31,  1864,  Hampton  had 
in  his  command  7,063  men,  but  by  the  return  of  October 
20,  5,375  only,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that  "present 
for  duty"  in  Confederate  reports  meant  those  in  camp, 
whether  with  or  without  serviceable  horses.  The  last  men- 
tioned figures  certainly  fully  averaged  the  effective  strength 
of  his  force  during  the  campaign. 

When  Hampton  was  ordered  to  South  Carolina  he  was 
made  a  lieutenant-general.  Butler's  Division  was  then  sent 
to  South  Carolina,  but  it  numbered,  by  the  return  of  Decem- 
ber 20,  1864,  only  1,526  effectives.  Hampton's  Corps  with 
Johnston's  army  was  composed  of  this  division,  and  that  of 
Major-General  Wheeler,  the  latter  made  up  of  troops  from 
Hood's  old  army  rendezvoused  at  Columbia,  S.  C. 

Columbia  was  an  unfortified  and  ungarrisoned  town. 
There  was  some  little  skirmishing,  a  few  miles  distant  from 
it,  with  Sherman's  advance,  but  the  Confederate  force  was 
totally  inadequate  in  numbers  to  cope  with  such  an  adver- 
sary. Consequently,  early  in  the  morning  of  February  17, 
all  troops  were  withdrawn  from  the  neighborhood.  Hampton 
commanded  the  rear-guard,  which  passed  through  and  left 
the  town  at  a  very  early  hour  in  the  morning.  The  city  was 
burned  after  dark  on  the  same  day,  it  having  been  formally 
surrendered  by  the  Mayor  and  taken  under  safeguard  by  the 
Federal  army  more  than  eight  hours  before.  At  first  there 
was  a  disposition,  in  some  quarters,  to  attribute  the  burning 
to  General  Hampton's  order,  or  to  some  part  of  the  Con- 
federate army,  which  would  amount  to  the  same  thing,  as  he 
was  in  command  of  the  rear-guard,  and,  therefore,  responsi- 
ble. To  a  man  of  his  humanity,  and  whose  ideal  of  a  soldier's 
honor  and  duty  was  so  high,  this  was  very  painful,  and  he 
indignantly  repudiated  the  imputation.  Indeed  at  first 
General  Sherman  charged  the  burning  against  Hampton, 
or  his  troops,  but  subsequently  explicitly  withdrew  the 
charge,  and  it  has  been  proved  before  the  "Mixed  Commis- 
sion," and  otherwise,  that  it  was  set  on  fire  at  night  on 
February  18.  No  cotton  was  set  on  fire  during  the  day  by 
the  Confederate  army,  or  by  any  one  else,  except  by  some 
Federal  soldiers,  who  got  hold  of  liquor  on  entering  the  town, 


62  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  mischievously  stuck  their  cigars  and  pipes  into  some 
cotton  piled  in  the  streets,  but  they  were  at  once  arrested  by 
their  provost-guard  and  the  fire  entirely  extinguished,  and  it 
amounted  to  nothing  of  importance,  having  no  connection  at 
all  with  the  fire  that  night.  It  so  happens  that  the  writer 
himself  rode  into  the  town  after  all  troops  had  been  with- 
drawn, and  as  the  Federal  column  was  about  entering,  and 
the  cotton  was  not  then  fired,  nor  were  there  any  persons, 
white  or  black,  in  the  streets,  all  having  retired  within  doors. 
Moreover,  with  a  small  detachment,  he  remained  for  several 
hours  after  the  Federal  column  had  been  seen  to  occupy  the 
town,  up  to  after  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  on  a  hill  beyond  the  Char- 
lotte depot  overlooking  the  city,  and  could  not  have  failed  to 
observe  any  fire  had  there  been  any  up  to  that  time ;  but  there 
was  none. 

General  Hampton  remained  in  command  of  the  cavalry 
corps  of  Johnston's  army  until  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 
During  the  march  of  the  hostile  army  he  accomplished  very 
much  in  curtailing  the  swath  of  destruction,  and  in  saving 
property  by  assisting  in  its  removal,  many  horses  and  much 
stock  being  preserved  and  returned  to  the  inhabitants  after 
Sherman's  columns  had  passed  by,  thus  enabling  the  poor 
people  to  plow  their  fields  and  obtain  after  a  while  sub- 
sistence. The  sufferings  of  those  living  along  the  route  were, 
however,  terrible  to  witness,  particularly  those  of  the  women 
and  children,  and  no  conscientious  men  made  cognizant  of 
them  by  personal  contact,  but  would  forever  afterward 
oppose  the  initiation  of  all  wars  not  purely  defensive  in  their 
nature:  it  would  cure  all  good  men  of  any  imperialistic 
sentiment  previously  entertained. 

Only  one  incident  showing  "Hampton's  way"  during  this 
period  will  be  here  given.  The  ninth  of  March  had  been  a 
rainy  day  and  the  night  was  very  dark.  Early  in  the  evening 
before  the  halt  was  made  for  the  night  bivouac,  a  picket  of 
about  forty  men  coming  from  the  opposite  direction  was  met, 
and  made  prisoners  in  the  darkness  without  the  firing  of  a 
shot,  or  any  other  noise.  Until  too  late  they  thought  them- 
selves among  friends.  It  turned  out  to  be  the  detachment 
sent  out  by  Kilpatrick,  commanding  the  cavalry  of  Sherman's 


WAR  63 

army,  to  picket  that  road  for  the  night,  he  having  gone  into 
camp  not  far  distant.  Scouts  at  once  dismounted,  and  felt 
their  way  cautiously  down  the  road,  and  to  the  camp,  finding 
no  guard  between,  every  one  there  relying  in  perfect  security 
upon  the  picket,  which  had  been  captured.  All  night  long 
the  scouts  lurked  in  the  cover,  reporting  the  camp  undis- 
turbed, having  quietly  captured  two  or  three  men  on  their 
way  to  the  picket  station.  Hampton  conferred  with  Butler 
and  Wheeler,  and  communicated  to  them  his  plan,  and  gave 
them  instructions  in  detail.  The  opportunity  presented  was 
just  what  was  desired,  for  Kilpatrick  was  endeavoring  to 
block  the  roads  leading  to  Fayetteville  on  the  Cape  Fear 
Kiver  about  eight  miles  distant,  and  Johnston  wished  to 
pursue  that  route. 

Butler's  division  remained  during  the  night  near  the  road, 
no  fires,  or  even  pipes  being  lighted,  all  talking  prohibited. 
Each  man  sat  on  the  ground  holding  his  bridle-rein  and 
keeping  his  horse  from  conversing  with  his  friends  in  whin- 
nies, as  they  are  inclined  to  do  when  perceiving  something 
unusual  afoot,  or  when  scenting  danger, 

Steed  threatens  steed,  in  high  and  boastful  neighs 
Piercing  the  night's  dull  air. 

At  the  first  faint  streak  of  daylight  Butler  was  to  strike,  and, 
on  hearing  him,  Wheeler  was  to  cooperate  from  his  position, 
which  would  be  at  about  right  angles  to  Butler,  thus  envelop- 
ing their  antagonist  on  the  two  sides  not  contiguous  to  his 
infantry.  On  the  third  side  was  an  impenetrable  swamp. 

Just  before  daylight  the  regiments  of  Butler,  intending  to 
attack,  moved  out  on  a  slow  walk  and  proceeded  to  within 
about  two  hundred  yards  of  the  outskirts  of  Kilpatrick's 
camp,  and  quietly  halted  there.  Gradually  the  first  faint 
light  preceding  dawn  began  to  be  perceptible.  As  it  had 
rained  all  the  day  before  and  most  of  the  night,  the  ground 
was  wet  and  soft  and  the  air  charged  thick  with  vapor, 
serving  to  muffle  sounds.  There  was  profound  stillness,  ex- 
cept for  two  little  birds  disturbed  in  their  morning  nap  twit- 
tering alarm  from  the  dripping  bushes,  while  the  ghostly 
pines,  shrouded  almost  to  the  ground  in  mist,  were  all  that 
sentineled  the  sleepers  near  by.  The  rest  of  the  division 


64  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

remained  where  it  had  bivouacked,  and  was  deployed  dis- 
mounted to  act  as  a  reserve,  or  repel  a  possible  counter- 
attack. 

At  length  Butler  rode  quietly  to  the  head  of  the  column, 
uncovered  his  head  and  cried : 

"Forward !    Charge !    Troops  from  Virginia,  follow  me !" 

With  irresistible,  sudden  impact  the  regiments  were  hurled 
horse  and  man  into  the  profoundly  sleeping  camp.  It  was 
as  if  supernatural  foes  had  leaped  up  among  them  from  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  Awaking  in  wild  alarm,  trampled  by 
horses'  hoofs  under  their  flies,  bewildered  and  half  asleep, 
while  horses  rushed  over  them,  pistols  flashed,  and  sabres 
swished  like  devil's  music,  they  fled  pell-mell  they  knew  not 
where,  if  fortunate  enough  to  get  away.  A  wild  sight  it  was 
— one  never  to  be  forgotten. 

There  could  not  have  been  a  more  complete  and  successful 
surprise.  Kilpatrick  himself,  whose  headquarters  were  near 
the  point  of  entrance,  escaped  in  shirt  and  drawers,  not  being 
recognized  in  the  dim  light.  This  opening  was  supported  by 
a  portion  of  the  reserves,  and  the  entire  camp  was  in  Hamp- 
ton's possession.  Unfortunately  Wheeler's  troops,  which 
were  expected  to  be  up  by  this  time,  were  detained  in  getting 
through  some  wet  ground,  and  did  not  cooperate,  as  had  been 
intended.  They,  however,  made  a  good  showing  in  assisting 
in  covering  the  withdrawal  from  the  camp. 

The  fugitives  carried  the  news  to  the  nearest  infantry, 
which  was  set  in  motion  on  the  double-quick  for  their  pro- 
tection, and  they  themselves  soon  rallied  very  well,  Kilpat- 
rick acting  gallantly.  Then  a  sharp  fight  ensued,  while 
prisoners  and  a  large  number  of  captured  horses  were 
removed  by  Hampton.  The  artillery  and  most  of  the  wagons 
could  not  be  got  off  in  time,  because  the  horses  pertaining  to 
them  had  been  stampeded  and  much  of  the  harness  was  gone. 
A  considerable  number  of  arms  and  accoutrements  were 
secured.  There  were  released  173  Confederate  prisoners,  and 
over  500  Federals  were  carried  off,  which  was  about  half  of 
Butler's  effective  force  at  the  time.  Kilpatrick's  Corps  num- 
bered about  5,000 ;  Wheeler's  division  about  3,000,  if  it  could 
have  been  gotten  together  at  one  time. 


WAR  65 

This  affair  pretty  badly  demoralized  Kilpatrick's  Corps. 
He  said  of  it  in  his  official  report : 

"Hampton  led  the  centre  division  (Butler's)  and  in  less 
than  a  minute  had  driven  back  my  people  and  taken  posses- 
sion of  my  headquarters,  captured  the  artillery,  and  the 
whole  command  was  flying  before  the  most  formidable  cav- 
alry charge  I  ever  have  witnessed.  Colonel  Spencer  and  a 
large  portion  of  my  staff  were  virtually  taken  prisoners." 

This  effectually  opened  the  roads  to  the  Cape  Fear  River. 
General  Hampton  said  that  the  returns  of  prisoners  captured 
by  his  corps  during  the  campaign  in  the  Carolinas  were  quite 
incomplete,  owing  to  irregular  attention  to  these  matters  in 
some  quarters,  and  the  loss  or  destruction  of  papers  conse- 
quent upon  the  break-up,  but  that  the  number  was  between 
three  and  four  thousand. 

When  Mr.  Davis  was  on  his  route  southward  from  Rich- 
mond, accompanied  by  some  of  the  members  of  his  cabinet 
and  by  his  family,  General  Hampton  wrote  to  him  from 
Hillsboro,  N.  C.,  under  date  of  April  19,  of  which  letter  the 
following  are  extracts : 

The  military  situation  is  very  gloomy,  I  admit,  but  it  is  by  no  means  desperate, 
and  endurance  and  determination  will  produce  a  change.  There  are  large  numbers 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  who  have  escaped,  and  of  these  many  will  return 
to  our  standard,  if  they  are  allowed  to  enter  the  cavalry  service.  Many  of  the 
cavalry,  who  escaped,  will  also  join  us,  If  they  find  we  are  still  making  head 
against  the  enemy. 

****** 
Give  me  a  good  force  and  I  will  take  them  safely  across  the  Mississippi. 
****** 
I  write  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  may  know  the  feelings  which  actuate  many 
of  the  officers  of  my  command.     They  are  not  subdued,  nor  do  they  despair. 

****** 
If  you  will  allow  me  to  do  so,  I  can  bring  to  your  support  many  strong  arms 
and  brave  hearts. 

Not  hearing  from  Mr.  Davis  in  reply,  General  Hampton 
went  to  Greensboro,  proposing  to  go  from  there  to  Salis- 
bury to  meet  him,  but  learning  that  he  was  not  at  the  latter 
place,  wrote  him  a  letter  dated  April  22,  from  which  we 
quote : 

I  came  here  intending  to  go  to  Salisbury  to  see  you,  but  hearing  that  you  are 
not  there,  I  am  not  able  to  reach  you  at  present. 


66  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

If  you  should  propose  to  cross  the  Mississippi,  I  can  bring  many  good  men  to 
escort  you  over.     My  men  are  In  hand  and  ready  to  follow  me  anywhere. 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

My  plan  Is  to  collect  all  the  men  who  will  stick  to  their  colors,  and  get  to  Texas. 
I  can  carry  with  me  quite  a  number,  and  I  can  get  there. 

On  April  22,  General  Hampton  received  the  following 
telegram  from  Mr.  Davis — either  in  answer  to  the  letter  just 
quoted  from,  or  to  the  first  one : 

Letter  not  received.     Wish  to  see  you  as  soon  as  convenient.     Will  then  confer. 

The  word  "not"  is  probably  a  telegraphic  error  for  "just." 
There  were  other  communications  between  them,  when  on 
April  26,  Mr.  Davis  wired  from  Charlotte,  N.  C. : 

If  you  think  It  better,  you  can,  with  the  approval  of  General  Johnston,  select 
now,  as  proposed  for  a  later  period,  the  small  body  of  men,  and  Join  me  at  once, 
leaving  General  Wheeler  to  succeed  you  in  command  of  the  cavalry. 

The  meaning  of  "the  small  body  of  men"  is,  that  Hampton 
had  proposed  to  join  Mr.  Davis  with  a  mounted  force  number- 
ing at  least  5,000  men,  and  Mr.  Davis  had  objected  to  so  large 
a  column  for  his  escort,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  attract 
attention  and  pursuit,  have  difficulty  in  foraging,  and  not  be 
sufficiently  mobile. 

General  Hampton  met  Mr.  Davis  at  Charlotte,  and,  after 
a  full  consultation,  the  latter  approved  of  the  plan  suggested, 
and  gave  the  General  a  letter  authorizing  him  to  join  him 
with  all  the  men  willing  to  volunteer,  and  take  as  many  of  the 
artillery  and  wagon-horses  as  might  be  deemed  advisable,  for 
mounts.  Having  received  this  authorization  from  his  com- 
mander-in-chief,  Hampton  returned  to  Hillsboro  to  carry 
out  the  plan  agreed  upon,  arriving  there  at  eleven  o'clock 
p.  m.,  April  26,  and  found  that  the  army  had  surrendered. 
This  defeated  the  plan,  for  Hampton,  of  course,  recognized 
that  the  convention  entered  into  by  Johnston  and  Sherman 
included  his  command — the  entire  cavalry  corps  present. 
He  then  informed  General  Johnston,  that,  being  absent  at  the 
time  under  special  orders  from  the  commander-in-chief,  he 
did  not  consider  himself  embraced  in  the  surrender,  and  that 
he  would  at  once  endeavor  to  join  Mr.  Davis,  but  would  take 
none  of  his  command  with  him.  Learning  that  a  large  part. 


WAR  67 

of  his  men  had  refused  to  surrender  and  had  left  the  camp, 
he  sent  a  courier  after  them  with  orders  to  halt,  until  he 
could  come  up  with  them,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  midnight 
left  his  headquarters,  accompanied  by  several  of  his  staff, 
and  seventeen  scouts  and  couriers.  At  sunrise  he  came  up 
with  the  men  to  wrhom  he  had  sent  orders  halt,  and 
besought  them  to  prove  themselves  then,  as  they  had  done 
throughout  the  war,  good  soldiers,  by  obeying  the  command 
of  General  Johnston  by  whom  they  had  been  surrendered,  as 
part  of  his  army.  He  assured  them  in  most  affecting  words, 
that  he  knew  they  were  ready  to  share  his  fate,  but  that  this 
they  could  not  honorably  do,  as  they  had  been  surrendered 
with  the  army,  but  that  he  himself  was  acting  under  the 
orders  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and  could  therefore  join 
him.  The  writer  was  not  present,  but  has  been  informed  by 
those,  who  were  there,  that  it  was  a  most  impressive  and 
pathetic  scene,  old  soldiers  with  tears  streaming  down  their 
faces,  and  many  sobbing  like  children,  the  General's  eyes  wet 
and  his  voice  shaking  with  emotion. 

After  having  thus  taken  leave  of  his  old  comrades,  many  of 
whom  had  been  with  him  since  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
Hampton  pushed  on  toward  Charlotte,  accompanied  only  by 
the  men  attached  to  his  headquarters  originally  following 
him  from  camp,  expecting  to  find  Mr.  Davis  at  that  place, 
but  on  reaching  there  in  the  evening,  it  was  discovered  that 
he  had  left  for  Yorkville,  S.  C.,  about  thirty-five  miles  distant. 
Leaving  his  escort,  whose  horses  were  tired  out,  at  Charlotte, 
Hampton  procured  a  fresh  horse,  and  at  once  pressed  on 
alone  to  Yorkville,  swimming  the  Catawba  Eiver  during  the 
night,  and  arriving  at  Yorkville  at  two  o'clock  a.  m.  only  to 
find  that  Mr.  Davis  was  reported  gone  to  Abbeville,  S.  C. 
Thus  disappointed  in  overtaking  Mr.  Davis  and  not  knowing 
his  plans  of  route,  Hampton  dispatched  a  letter  to  him  by 
General  Wheeler,  whom  he  met  at  Yorkville,  and  also  sent 
two  couriers  with  communications  for  him,  but  all  these 
failed  of  reaching  him. 

Thus,  faithful  to  the  last,  but  hearing  nothing  further  from 
Mr.  Davis,  General  Hampton  eventually  accepted  a  parole  in 


68  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

accordance  with  General  Lee's  views  that  resistance  was  to 
cease,  and,  from  that  moment,  there  was  no  man,  South  or 
North,  more  sincere  in  accepting  the  legitimate  results  of  the 
war,  or  in  using  his  influence  more  conscientiously  to  bring 
about  a  Union  restored  in  good  faith  and  fraternal  feeling. 


EECONSTKUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  69 


KECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  STATES 

A  pilot !    God,  a  pilot,  for  the  helm  is  left  awry, 

And  the  best  sailors  in  the  ship  lie  there  among  the  dead ! 

— Sidney  Lanier. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  of  1861-65  began  the  Reconstruction 
Period,  which  lasted  in  South  Carolina  over  ten  years,  if  we 
consider  the  Hayes-Tilden  election  as  its  termination.  It  is 
necessary  for  the  reader  to  have  a  clear  general  conception  of 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  State  during  that  period  in 
order  to  appreciate  the  priceless  services  rendered  by  Hamp- 
ton to  his  country..  In  trying  to  effect  this,  the  writer  will 
give  a  mere  outline  of  the  situation  before  the  State  and  Pres- 
idential contest  of  1876,  and  only  sufficient  details  of  that 
time  to  illustrate  the  value  of  what  Hampton  accomplished. 
This  he  will  do  in  the  spirit  of  candor  and  truth,  without 
exaggeration,  and  free  from  intended  offense  to  anyone. 

The  war  ended,  as  everyone  knows,  by  the  surrender  in  the 
spring  of  1865  of  all  the  organized  armies  of  the  Confederacy. 
It  is  characteristic  of  men  imbued  with  the  true  military 
spirit,  to  fight  hard,  to  the  death,  if  you  like,  but,  when  sur- 
rendering, to  do  so  in  good  faith,  without  any  mental  reserva- 
tion whatever,  accepting  as  irrevocably  settled  the  points 
which  have  been  at  issue.  It  is  not  of  this  nature  to  com- 
plain and  regret,  still  less  to  plot  and  conspire.  The 
true  soldier,  after  a  fair  fight,  and  his  acknowledgment  of 
defeat,  has  an  inclination  to  shake  hands  and  "make  up," 
expecting  his  adversary  to  be  possessed  of  a  like  generous 
feeling.  The  Southern  armies  were  composed  of  true  soldiers, 
as  they  had  proved  on  many  a  field,  and  when  we  say  "the 
Southern  Armies,"  we  mean  the  Southern  people,  for  the  rest 
were  not  of  sufficient  consequence,  either  in  numbers,  or 
character,  to  be  worth  considering.  Moreover  the  Southern 
soldier  knew  full  well  that,  with  good  cause,  his  name  and 
fame  were  engraved  for  all  time  in  the  memories  of  brave 
men  everywhere,  and  that  he  did  not  come  home  to  his  family 
like  a  whipped  cur,  but  to  be  welcomed  there  as  a  hero  by 


70  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

mother  and  sisters,  wife  or  sweetheart,  so  that  he  was  spared 
personally  much  of  the  bitterness  of  defeat.  Then,  too,  the 
great  mass  of  them  were  Americans — far  more  generally  so 
than  was  the  case  with  the  Northern  armies  chiefly  recruited 
from  foreigners,  or  those  of  near  alien  descent — a  race,  which 
had  comparatively  lately  conquered  their  homes  from  the  wil- 
derness with  their  own  sturdy  arms,  and  finding  them  again 
and  again  devastated  by  the  savage,  had  always  returned 
there  to  rebuild  before  the  ashes  were  cold,  and  to  run  a 
furrow  in  the  fields  still  wet  with  the  blood  of  the  red  man. 
In  the  same  resolute  spirit  they  returned  now  to  their  homes 
equally  devastated,  determined  to  recreate  their  fortunes,  as 
best  they  could.  If  you  desire  confirmation  of  this  in  sub- 
stance, read  the  report  of  December,  1865,  ^  made  to  President 
Johnson  by  General  Grant,  on  his  return  from  a  trip  to  the 
South,  where  he  had  been  sent  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  sentiments  of  the  people  there,  and  surely  he 
cannot  be  suspected  of  overstating  the  case.  You  will  never 
find,  I  think,  search  the  pages  of  history  as  you  may,  at  the 
end  of  any  sectional  or  civil  war,  a  brighter  prospect  of  quick 
pacification,  complete  reconciliation,  and  speedy  rehabilita- 
tion. Even  the  abolition  of  negro  slavery  was  not  as  sore 
a  subject,  as  many  suppose  it  to  have  been,  for  at  least  four 
fifths  of  the  Southern  people  were  not  slaveholders,  and  had 
been  fighting  for  independence,  not  negro  slavery;  many  of 
them  in  their  hearts  were  not  sorry  that  the  perpetual,  worri- 
some, political  wrangle  over  the  negro  would  thus  be  ended 
forever,  as  then  they  supposed  it  would  be. 

The  points  which  had  been  at  issue  and  which  had  been 
conceded  by  the  South  by  the  surrender,  were  primarily  the 
right  of  secession  and  incidentally  the  right  to  own  negro 
slaves,  but  they  had  not  given  up  their  inherent  rights,  as 
Americans,  to  life,  liberty,  and  property — other  than  that  in 
negro  slaves — while  rendering  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Con- 
gress passed  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  This  was  the  agreement — a  mutual  one — as 
evidenced  by  the  words  contained  in  the  paroles.  This  was 
the  well-known  programme  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  "reconstruc- 
tion," and  it  was  that  of  Mr.  Seward,  Governor  Andrews  of 


KECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  71 

Massachusetts,  and  similar  statesmen,  as  also  that  of  General 
Sherman  and  of  General  Grant,  until  the  latter  threw  in  his 
fortune  with  the  party  that  originated  the  policy  embodied 
in  what  are  known  as  the  Reconstruction  Acts.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  at  all  that,  if  the  Confederate  armies  had  known 
what  awaited  them  at  the  hands  of  those  whom  they  trusted 
in  good  faith,  they  would  never  have  laid  down  their  arms. 
General  Lee,  whose  opinion  will  doubtless  be  accepted  on 
this  point  as  representative  of  his  section,  when  in  Charles- 
ton while  traveling  for  his  health  not  long  before  his  death, 
was  asked  whether  he  would  have  surrendered,  if  at  that 
time  he  had  foreseen  the  frightful  condition  of  affairs,  which 
was  to  ensue,  caused  by  the  Reconstruction  Acts.  Drawing 
up  his  still  commanding  figure  to  its  full  height,  with  flushed 
face  and  kindling  eyes,  he  replied : 

"No,  sir!  never!   never!" 

It  is  useless1  now  to  investigate  the  animus  that  brought 
about  the  policy  referred  to,  and  I  have  no  intention  of  doing 
so.  It  is  immaterial  how  much  was  due  to  an  honest  misun- 
derstanding of  the  South,  and  how  much  to  mere  distrust; 
how  much  was  owing  to  want  of  knowledge  of  the  true  nature 
of  the  negro,  and  how  much  to  anxiety  lest  he  be  ill-treated 
by  the  white  population;  how  much  to  a  cold  political  pur- 
pose to  establish  permanently  a  "solid  South"  in  the  interest 
of  the  then  dominant  faction  through  negro  supremacy,  and 
how  far  party  discipline  and  dread  of  being  ostracized 
deterred  opposition,  that  could  have  prevented  the  worst 
excesses. 

We  do  not  know  what  proportion  of  each  of  these  ingre- 
dients went  to  the  making  up  of  the  bomb,  but  we  do  know 
that  it  shattered  society  at  the  South,  almost  destroyed  the 
elementary  bonds  of  the  social  compact,  and  has  crippled  her 
progress  for  fifty  years  or  more. 

A  measure  more  unspeakably  cruel  to  the  negro  race  than 
emancipation,  as  it  was  managed,  cannot  be  conceived.  I 
am  not  condemning  emancipation  in  itself,  but  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  effected.  I  believe  that  the  time  had  come 
for  emancipation  in  the  South,  just  as  it  had  come  a  few 
years  earlier  in  the  Northern  States,  and  for  precisely  the 


72  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

same  reasons — not  for  moral  but  for  industrial  reasons — 
because  negro  labor  was  so  much  inferior  to  white  labor  that 
it  kept  back  the  material  and,  through  that,  the  intellectual 
growth  of  the  South.  But  if  emancipation  with  compensa- 
tion to  owners  (which  it  is  known  Mr.  Lincoln  favored)  had 
been  adopted  in  an  equitable  spirit,  on  a  principle  akin  to 
eminent  domain,  the  then  existing  cordial  relations  between 
the  two  races  would  have  continued,  and  under  friendly 
guidance  the  negro  would  have  remained  happy  and  attained 
the  highest  moral  and  physical  development  of  which  he  is 
(or,  rather,  was,)  capable.  But,  instead  of  this,  the  plan 
adopted  by  the  anti-Lincoln  faction  was  a  combination  of 
vindictiveness  toward  the  whites,  and  to  the  negroes  the 
color  of  philanthropy  "cheaply"  effected  altogether  at  the 
expense  of  the  whites,  but  which  in  the  end  proved  very 
"dear"  to  the  entire  country.  Thus  several  millions  of  a  race 
stamped  inferior  by  nature,  intellectually  as  helpless  as 
children,  accustomed  only  to  daily  "tasks"  so  light  that  they 
>  would  have  been  laughed  at  by  an  average  white  laborer, 
and  innately  indolent,  were  turned  adrift  into  the  cold  world 
to  make  the  struggle  for  existence  in  competition  with  the 
superior  race.  The  only  real,  comprehending  friends  they 
ever  had,  the  Southern  whites,  who  could  and  would  intelli- 
gently and  sympathetically  have  helped  them,  were  placed 
against  their  will  in  a  position  of  hostility,  and  the  poor 
negroes  were  mercilessly  turned  over  by  their  new  "friends" 
to  the  exploitation  of  cranks,  carpet-baggers,  scalawags,  and 
mulattoes,  the  latter  inheriting  some  of  the  intelligence,  and 
all  the  vice  and  rascality  of  the  lecherous  white  blood  from 
which  they  sprang.  Then  the  ever-ready  aid  of  those  con- 
genial missionaries  of  "civilization,"  alcohol  and  lust,  was 
called  in  to  honeycomb  them  with  loathsome  disease,  which 
has  poisoned  for  all  time  the  blood  of  a  frightfully  large  per- 
centage of  the  race,  and  rendered  them  in  spite  of  themselves 
degenerates,  unable  to  do  good  work,  even  if  willing.  The 
result  was  just  as  certain  beforehand  as  it  is  the  due  working 
out  of  a  chemical  formula,  and  this  was  earnestly  pointed  out 
at  the  time.  But  the  "experiment"  at  the  expense  of  others, 
the  vivisection  of  the  "specimen,"  was  taken  up  with  as  much 


KECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  73 

light-heartedness  as  would  be  shown  by  a  young  medical 
student  in  dissecting  a  frog,  and  with  as  little  sense  of  moral 
responsibility  as  children  playing  with  matches  in  a  powder 
magazine. 

And  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  the  grievous  wrong  done  the  race 
is  irreparable.  The  last  refuge  for  the  negro  from  being 
extirpated  by  the  vigorous  white  immigrant  is  in  those  parts 
of  what  is  sometimes  called  the  "black  belt,"  where  in 
swampy,  undrained  lands  malaria  holds  high  carnival  during 
the  summer  months.  Booker  Washington  (who  for  obvious 
reasons  always  speaks  of  himself  as  a  "negro,"  when  in  fact 
a  mulatto)  foresees  this  full  well,  as  evinced  by  recent  utter- 
ances. But  when  these  same  lands  are  drained,  malaria  is 
eliminated  and  the  song  of  the  mosquito  stilled  forever.  The 
climate  then  becomes  healthful  and  pleasant  all  the  year 
round,  and  the  soil  is  second  in  fertility  to  none  in  the  world. 
All  these  now  malarial  sections  eventually  will  be  effectively 
drained  on  a  large  scale — if  not  by  the  present  owners,  then 
by  new-comers,  for  the  cupidity  of  mankind  can  be  trusted 
for  that.  Then  they  will  become  densely  populated  by  an 
industrious,  hardy  yeomanry,  eager  in  the  struggle  of  life, 
and,  as  new-comers,  without  any  sympathy  for  the  negroes, 
a  sentiment  which  has  never  been  eradicated  from  the  hearts 
of  the  original  soil-owners.  If  it  be  asked  what  will  then 
become  of  the  negro,  the  answer  is,  what  has  become  of  the 
Indian? 

The  fact  is  that  emancipation  without  compensation  is 
based  upon  the  principle  that  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the 
people  (that  is  to  say,  the  will  of  the  majority  of  those 
allowed  to  vote)  is  the  supreme  law  vested  rights,  constitu- 
tions, and  statutes  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding;  that 
private  and  corporate  property  are  not  held  by  any  natural 
right,  but  by  a  privilege  granted  under  the  social  compact, 
which  is  revocable  at  the  will  of  the  people,  those  termed 
owners  being  in  reality  only  temporary  trustees  for  their 
principal,  the  people.  This  doctrine,  which  is  as  old  as  the 
hills,  has  naturally  never  been  a  favorite  with  the  "trustees," 
but  they  have  been  always  reluctantly  compelled  to  obey  the 
de  facto  government,  and  give  up  unto  Caesar  the  things 


74 

which  he  says  are  his.  Not  only  emancipation,  but  much 
other  legislation  in  this  country,  and  a  great  deal  in  Eng- 
land also  in  recent  times,  can  only  be  legalized  on  this  prin- 
ciple. It  applies,  of  course,  in  full  force  to  the  proposed 
expropriation  of  unduly  large  private  and  corporate  estates. 
The  indirect  effect  of  these  measures  will  be  to  generalize 
property,  but  the  immediate  result,  the  appropriation  by  gov- 
ernment of  vast  sums,  which  can  be  employed  in  public 
utilities,  among  others  the  furnishing  free  transportation  to 
Africa  for  negroes  and  giving  them  when  there  the  long- 
promised  "forty  acres  and  a  mule."  It  is  a  solution  of  the 
"negro  question"  quite  in  harmony  with  "the  eternal 
verities." 

There  can  now  be  no  doubt  that  President  Johnson  con- 
scientiously endeavored  to  carry  out  in  good  faith  the  well- 
defined  policy  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  bequeathed  to  him, 
but  he  could  not  stem  the  tide  let  loose  by  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  Oliver  P.  Morton,  and  there  was  no  other  able 
to  do  it,  and  but  few  inclined  to  make  the  attempt.  Mr. 
Johnson  was  honest  and  patriotic,  but  wanting  in  tact,  tem- 
per, and  judgment,  and  without  the  commanding  prestige  of 
Lincoln,  who,  kindly  in  nature,  firm  of  will,  and  beneficent  in 
purpose,  might  have  stayed  the  hand  upraised  to  smite  the 
defenseless.  The  vile,  cowardly  assassin,  an  outsider  to  the 
South,  a  wretched  non-combatant,  he,  who  at  the  most 
momentous  point  of  the  crisis,  murdered  in  cold  blood  the 
best  friend  the  South  then  possessed,  by  the  consequences 
of  that  fiendish  crime  consigned  many  another  man  to  a  death 
of  despair,  broke  many  and  many  a  poor  woman's  heart,  con- 
demned countless  children  to  mature,  if  at  all,  dwarfed 
mentally  and  physically  for  want  of  normal  nutriment. 

As  soon  as  practicable  after  the  disbandment  of  the 
Southern  armies  civil  governments  were  organized  in  the 
previously  seceded  States,  and  these  communities  admitted 
to  their  former  rights  of  statehood  under  Mr.  Johnson's  (or, 
rather,  Mr.  Lincoln's)  programme,  after  they  had  renounced 
the  right  of  secession  and  accepted  the  abolition  of  negro 
slavery.  In  the  interests  of  society  and  property  Federal 
troops  were  maintained  there  in  sufficient  force  to  ensure, 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  75 

if  necessary,  tranquillity,  a  measure  the  wiseness  of  which 
was  not  doubted  by  any  one,  in  view  of  the  feeling  of  unrest, 
and  socialism  among  the  negroes,  stirred  up  chiefly  by  the 
emissaries  of  the  Freedmens'  Bureau,  with  free  rations  and 
promises  of  "forty  acres  and  a  mule."  The  result  was  a  sort 
of  quasi-civil  government. 

It  became  necessary,  as  well  for  the  good  of  the  negroes,  as 
of  the  whites,  in  fact  absolutely  indispensible,  to  define  the 
rights  and  responsibilities  of  the  blacks  under  the  new  order 
of  affairs.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau,  though  in  its  origin 
beneficent  in  intention,  did  much  more  harm  than  good  to  the 
negroes  themselves.  By  free  rations  they  were  encouraged  to 
be  idlers  and  vagrants,  and  by  constant  interference  between 
them  and  the  whites,  and  the  creation  of  demagogue  "carpet- 
baggers," the  mutual  kindly  regard  for  each  other  originally 
entertained  was  weakened,  or  changed  altogether.  Good 
judgment  would  have  dictated  a  course  that  could  have  left 
this  unimpaired,  as  they  were  to  live  together  in  the  same 
community,  and  as,  in  the  long  run,  the  racially  weaker  side 
would  suffer  most  loss  by  the  change.  To  organize  society, 
therefore,  upon  a  living  basis  for  all  concerned,  statutes  were 
passed  by  the  State,  which,  if  they  had  not  been  interfered 
with  by  Federal  legislation,  and  had  been  modified,  as  they 
would  have  been,  as  time  showed  the  propriety  of  doing  so, 
would  have  greatly  advanced  the  well-being  of  both  races. 
Any  one,  who  will  now  dispassionately  and  carefully  examine 
the  statutes  referred  to,  will,  I  feel  sure,  come  to  this  con- 
clusion. All  the  civil  rights  of  the  negro  were  secured  under 
these  laws,  and  the  provisions  as  to  labor  and  vagrancy  were 
such  as  good  judgment  would  provide  and  kindly  feeling 
approve,  if  the  characteristics  of  the  negro  were  understood. 
Racial  friction  would  have  been  avoided,  and  the  blacks 
gradually  and  naturally  developed  into  a  capacity  for  citizen- 
ship. 

Under  this  government,  though  anomalous  in  character, 
and  leaving  much  to  be  desired,  yet  all  that  could  be  expected 
during  a  temporary  transition  period,  the  whites  took  up 
earnestly  and  in  good  faith  the  struggle  of  life,  and  General 
Hampton  among  them.  But  he  was  handicapped  by  being  of 


76 

the  large  number  who  were  disfranchised,  and  was  thus 
rendered  unable  to  get  possession  of  his  landed  estates  for 
some  time.  His  large,  extended,  and  complicated  interests 
were  in  South  Carolina,  and  Mississippi,  principally  in  the 
latter,  States  necessarily  most  upset  by  the  changed  condi- 
tions of  labor,  in  consequence  of  the  negroes  outnumbering 
the  whites.  The  problem  presented  was  one  very  difficult  of 
satisfactory  solution,  but,  as  far  as  labor  was  concerned,  he 
was  advantageously  placed,  as  he  was  and  always  had  been 
much  looked  up  to,  liked,  and  admired  by  the  negroes,  and 
their  misleaders  found  it,  throughout  his  life,  a  difficult  task 
to  poison  the  black  man's  heart  against  him.  But,  under 
such  circumstances,  reserve-capital  required  for  running 
crop  expenses  destroyed,  cash  hard  to  obtain  and  only  pro- 
curable, if  at  all,  at  high  rates  of  interest;  with  assets  of  all 
kinds  diminished  in  value  by  emancipation  and  the  losses 
incident  to  it,  and  liabilities  ever  increasing,  it  may  easily 
be  appreciated  that  success  could  have  been  attained  only  by 
a  hard  and  patient  struggle.  Yet  he  was  a  man  well  fitted  to 
gain  the  day  in  such  a  battle  with  fate,  and  would  probably 
have  succeeded,  but  for  the  overturning  of  President  John- 
son's policy,  and  the  substitution  of  chaos  under  the  Recon- 
struction Acts.  Then  the  majestic  oaks  went  down  uprooted 
in  the  storm,  and  he  among  the  number,  and  the  poor  little 
saplings  were  blown  prostrate  on  the  ground. 

The  Reconstruction  Acts  were  passed  over  the  President's 
veto,  amid  derisive  cheers  and  uproarious  shouts  of  laughter 
on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  black  night  settled  down  upon 
South  Carolina  for  a  weary  decade.  The  previously  seceded 
States  were  divided  into  military  districts,  or  proconsulates, 
each  under  the  command  of  an  army  officer  with  absolute 
control  over  property  and  power  of  life  and  death,  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  being  abolished,  as  well  as  trial  by  jury, 
indictment  or  even  accusation  under  oath  not  required,  and 
appeal  barred;  all  this  without  limit  in  time.  Thus  these 
Acts  were  originally  passed,  but,  in  order  to  ensure  the  two- 
thirds  majority  that  would  be  required  to  pass  them  over 
the  President's  veto,  they  were  modified  to  this  extent — but 
only  to  this  extent — that  before  actually  putting  to  death  a 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  77 

condemned  man,  the  General  Commanding  must  obtain  the 
approval  of  the  Executive  just  as  now  on  courts-martial,  and 
that,  when  these  communities  should  be  organized  into 
embryo  States  under  the  General  Commanding,  and  should 
present  to  Congress  a  Constitution  acceptable  to  that  body, 
and  should  accept  the  proposed  Fourteenth  Amendment 
(negro  suffrage  and  partial  white  disfranchisement)  not  yet 
ratified  by  a  sufficient  number  (two-thirds)  of  the  Northern 
States  to  make  it  binding;  that  Congress  might  then,  if  it 
elected  to  do  so,  admit  them,  as  States,  into  the  Union,  when 
military  government  would  cease.  Not  long  after  this  votes 
were  had  in  Ohio  and  several  other  of  the  principal  Northern 
States  on  conferring  the  right  of  suffrage  on  the  negroes 
residing  there,  and  the  proposition  was  voted  down  by  large 
majorities.  In  fact  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  was  declared 
adopted  through  the  thus  obtained  acceptance  under  duress 
of  "Reconstructed  States"  admitted  on  this  as  a  condition 
precedent. 

Relief  applied  for  from  the  enforcement  of  these  Acts,  so 
patently  subversive  of  organic  law,  could  not  be  obtained  by 
legal  means,  for  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
decided  that  political  questions  were  involved,  and  that  in 
such  cases  it  was  without  jurisdiction. 

Morley  ("Oliver  Cromwell")  in  speaking  of  the  tyrannies 
of  Charles,  says : 

"A  stout-hearted  merchant  of  the  City  of  London  brought 
the  matter  in  a  suit  for  false  imprisonment  before  the  King's 
Bench.  There  one  of  the  Judges  actually  laid  down  the  doc- 
trine, that  there  is  a  rule  of  law,  and  a  rule  of  government, 
and  that  many  things,  which  might  not  be  done  by  the  rule 
of  law,  may  be  done  by  the  rule  of  government.  In  other 
words,  law  must  be  tempered  by  reasons  of  state,  which  is  as 
good  as  to  say,  no  law." 

A  professor  (Burgess)  of  political  science  and  constitu- 
tional law  in  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  American  universities, 
in  lectures  published  in  1902 — assuming  "State  suicide,"  in 
spite  of  the  impassible  barriers  in  the  way  of  his  argument, 
such  as  Magna  Charta,  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the  Constitution, 
and  others,  as  well  as  the  natural  rights  of  man  in  which  all 


78  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

these  are  rooted — gives  it  as  his  opinion,  that  a  Congress 
representing  only  some  of  the  States  was  acting  within  its 
legal  powers,  when  assuming  to  legislate  to  deprive  of  life, 
liberty,  and  property  the  citizens  of  other  unrepresented 
States.  If  this  were  correct  doctrine,  where  would  be  for  the 
physically  weaker  the  aegis  of  fundamental  law,  including 
the  right  of  representation?  We  should  have  "Thorough" 
indeed.  It  is  too  much  the  tendency  of  exclusively  academic 
minds,  busied  with  speculations  in  political  ethics,  to  demand 
that  facts  shall  conform  to  their  theories,  and  if  they  do  not 
conform,  so  much  the  worse  for  facts.  The  professor  referred 
to  thinks  that  the  power  of  a  legally  constituted  Congress 
to  legislate  for  Territories  furnishes  a  sanctioned  precedent 
for  legislation  (including,  of  course,  taxation)  without  repre- 
sentation. But  the  citizens  of  Territories,  are  not  unrepre- 
sented. The  Territories  are  composed,  as  far  as  Americans 
are  concerned,  of  citizens  from  States,  and  they  are  repre- 
sented by  these  States,  which  are  properly  and  constitution- 
ally legislating  in  Congress  for  the  Territories,  with  the 
"consent  of  the  governed,"  and  for  their  welfare,  until  they 
form  new  States.  This  is,  therefore,  not  a  precedent  of  legis- 
lation without  representation,  and  the  same  reasoning  applies 
to  martial  law  exercised  within  prescribed  constitutional 
limits.  Here  it  should  be  recalled  that  although  representa- 
tion is  an  inalienable  right  of  the  American  citizen,  suffrage 
is  not,  and  never  has  been  so  considered  by  anybody  any- 
where, for  nowhere  have  minors  been  allowed  the  suffrage, 
and  only  in  some  few  places  has  it  been  accorded  to  women, 
and  then  as  a  privilege,  not  as  a  right,  although  they  are  all 
citizens  represented  by  the  qualified  voters  through  their 
chosen  delegates.  Bacon  wrote  three  centuries  before  this, 
that  "the  use  of  the  law  consisteth  principally  in  these  three 
things" :  to  secure  the  person  ( including,  of  course,  his 
liberty) ,  the  property,  and  the  reputation  of  the  subject.  But 
"the  law"  was  either  "common  law"  (immemorial  custom, 
which  implies  original  "consent"  either  direct  or  representa- 
tive) or  else  statutes  of  representative  parliaments. 

It  is  well  known  that  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  the  head  and 
front  of  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  of  Reconstruc- 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  79 

tion;  that  it  was  his  masterful  will,  unrelenting  purpose, 
and  unquailing  courage,  that  carried  through  Congress  the 
Reconstruction  Acts,  and  humbled  Andrew  Johnson  to  prac- 
tically a  nonentity  in  the  government,  and  only  narrowly 
failed  of  consigning  him  to  the  infamy  of  a  convicted  traitor 
to  his  office.  It  was  Thaddeus  Stevens,  whose  stentorian 
voice  issued  the  commands,  his  strong  arm,  which  cracked 
the  party  whip,  that  kept  subject  to  him  the  majority  in 
Washington,  and  it  was  he  who  pronounced  the  doom  of 
political  death  on  all  refusing  to  obey.  His  unswerving  pur- 
pose was  irretrievably  to  destroy  the  dominant  race  in  -the 
Southern  States,  and  on  its  ruins  to  erect  the  rule  of  a 
population  of  hybrids.  Against  all  pity  for  the  unspeakable 
miseries  to  be  inflicted,  for  tottering  age,  for  helpless  infancy, 
for  the  womanhood  of  his  own  race,  his  heart  was  relentlessly 
steeled.  But  what  was  the  paramount  passion,  which  must 
have  shut  his  breast  against  human  sympathy?  Some  have 
said  that  it  was  a  vindictive  feeling  engendered  by  pecuniary 
losses  sustained  during  the  war ;  but  this,  though  no  doubt  a 
contributing  cause,  totally  fails  to  furnish  an  adequate 
explanation.  Others  have  imputed  his  conduct  to  ambition 
of  leadership;  but  this  could  much  better  and  more  easily 
have  been  acquired  in  other  ways.  Public  plunder  has  been 
suggested  as  his  motive;  but  there  is  no  proof  that  he  was  a 
noted  spoilsman  personally,  though  using  money  lavishly  for 
corruption  purposes.  What,  then,  is  the  true  explanation? 
To  answer  this  question  we  must  lift  the  veil  from  his  private 
life.  This  is  only  permissible  where  the  private  life  of  a 
public  man  furnishes  the  key  to  his  course  in  public  affairs. 
Then  it  is  not  only  permissible,  but  the  duty  of  the  student  of 
history  to  lift  this  veil  as  a  guide — as  a  warning — to  the 
future. 

The  "colored"  race  (meaning  those  persons  with  half  or 
a  lesser  proportion  of  negro  blood)  is  the  product  of  the  lust 
of  the  Aryan  race,  which  has  never  encountered  an  inferior 
one  without  some  degrading  illicit  admixture.  It  shames 
the  British  rule  in  India;  "Alas  and  alackaday"  is  the  epi- 
gram on  its  lust  and  plunder.  In  America  it  "follows  the 
flag."  Indeed,  the  allurements  of  Circe,  the  daughter  of  the 


80  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Sun,  were  too  much  for  even  the  "Saints,"  nor  were  they  able 
to  stop  their  ears  to  the  seductive  strains  of  the  sirens.  We 
find  that  to  "deliver  us  from  temptation"  it  proved  necessary 
in  the  early  days  in  Massachusetts  to  pass  Exclusion  Laws 
expelling  all  of  the  mixed  blood.  The  necessity  for  so 
"heroic"  a  remedy — the  driving  out  of  their  own  flesh  and 
blood — is  evidence  that  satan  was  hot  upon  the  trail  of  the 
"Saints."  It  was  a  crime  no  more  general  in  the  English 
colonies,  which  have  now  expanded  into  the  Southern  States, 
than  on  any  other  part  of  this  continent,  if  estimated  on  the 
percentage  of  local  population  of  the  lower  race.  Here  it 
had  one  redeeming  feature,  for  it  branded  the  lack  of  female 
chastity  as  the  despised  vice  of  an  inferior  race,  and  thus 
contributed  in  raising  to  a  preeminently  exalted  standard  the 
character  of  the  Southern  woman,  the  whitest  and  most  fra- 
grant rose  in  Christendom.  Still,  it  was  the  one  and  only 
spot  on  the  fair  escutcheon  of  the  "old  regime,"  and  must  be 
admitted.  As  to  the  negro,  the  conscience  of  the  Southern 
man  is  at  rest,  for  to  him  he  has  been  and  is  a  kind  and 
uplifting  friend.  Would  that  there  were  an  equal  freedom 
from  responsibility  in  the  problem  of  the  mixed  race,  but  its 
existence  is  an  indictment  in  the  court  of  conscience  to  which 
he  must  plead  guilty.  His  own  race,  as  well  as  his  spurious 
offspring,  has  paid  the  penalty — the  innocent  are  saddled 
with  the  responsibility  involved — for  the  status  of  the  negro 
has  been  fixed  by  nature,  but  that  of  the  colored  people  pre- 
sents difficulties.  Fortunately  the  number  is  comparatively 
small.  This  sin  of  the  fathers  has  condemned  the  hybrid 
product  to  a  position  in  the  world  which  cannot  but  call 
forth  pity  from  anyone  possessing  a  human  heart.  The 
colored  branch  is  fettered  by  its  inferior  blood  to  the  negro 
race,  whom  they  look  down  upon  and  often  loathe — now  and 
then  with  the  despair  of  a  vainly  aspiring  soul  consciously 
pent  up  hopelessly  in  a  body  unworthy  of  it,  the  soul  of  the 
Aryan  chained  down  to  the  physical  attributes  of  the  colored 
race ;  but,  also,  now  and  then  with  the  pride  of  that  Nemesis 
possessing  the  attractive  beauty  of  the  children  of  God  but 
the  spirit  of  the  earthy  black.  On  the  other  hand,  the  white 
blood  in  their  veins,  sometimes  derived  from  masterful  and 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  81 

intellectual  sources,  makes  them  long  with  insatiable  craving 
for  social  equality  with  the  higher  race,  but  they  well  know 
this  to  be  hopeless.  So  they  hang  suspended  between  the 
hell,  as  they  consider  it,  of  negro  degradation,  and  the  unat- 
tainable heaven  of  white  equality.  Pitiable?  Oh,  pitiable 
beyond  the  power  of  words  to  express,  because  irremediable, 
so  mercilessly  does  nature  avenge  her  outraged  laws.  Some 
of  them  bear  their  cross  in  life  in  a  subdued  and  chastened 
spirit;  others  make  the  best  of  the  situation,  take  the  happi- 
ness the  world  offers  to  them;  others,  again — and  these  are 
those,  usually,  inheriting  most  strongly  the  masterful  and 
ambitious  characteristics  of  the  higher  race — rebel  against 
the  inevitable,  and  there  is  a  perpetual  warfare  going  on  in 
their  hearts  against  their  unfortunate  fate.  This  resentment 
against  the  inexorable  law  of  nature,  which  through  their 
fathers'  sin  presses  so  cruelly  upon  them,  often  develops,  by 
long-continued  brooding,  into  an  intense  hatred  of  the  white 
race  and  a  corresponding  contempt  for  the  black.  Under 
normal  conditions  these  tires  smolder  unknown  to  others,  but 
when  a  vent  is  provided  they  blaze  up  into  devouring  flames. 
Such  a  vent  was  provided  by  the  Reconstruction  era  when 
Lincoln's  policy  was  frustrated  by  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  his 
associates. 

It  is  a  law  of  nature,  as  fixed  as  that  which  makes  the 
world  turn  on  its  axis,  that  where  there  is  a  permanent  illicit 
connection  between  a  man  and  a  woman  of  markedly  different 
moral  status,  one  of  two  things  happens:  either  the  higher 
nature  uplifts  toward  it  the  lower,  or  else  the  lower  draws 
down  to  it  the  higher.  The  former  very  rarely  happens,  the 
latter  almost  invariably ;  and  in  the  case  of  Thaddeus  Stevens 
this  was  necessarily  so,  for  his  mistress  was  a  mulatto.  In 
accordance,  then,  with  this  inexorable  law  of  nature,  he  was 
dragged  down  in  race  sentiment  to  her  level,  and  became 
as  thoroughly  saturated  with  hatred  as  she  herself  was.  He 
thus  was  made  her  instrument  for  vengeance  upon  America 
through  hybridization,  of  which  the  South  was  to  be  the  first 
field.  Through  his  mouth  she  thundered  in  Congress  the 
vehement  words  which  cowed  the  hearers  into  submission  to 


82  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

her  will.     Through  his  brain  she  forged  the  fetters,  by  his 
iron  hand  she  fastened  the  manacles. 

When  persons  possessing  markedly  strong  characteristics 
have  left  the  plane  of  middle  life  and  entered  upon  old  age, 
those  characteristics  write  their  record  in  unmistakable 
marks  on  face,  feature,  and  form.  It  is  a  process  of  the 
gradual  molding  of  the  exterior  to  conform  to  the  nature  of 
the  soul.  We  have  all  of  us  in  our  own  experience  known 
people  who  in  their  youth  had  not  a  trace  discernible  of 
beauty,  and  yet  became  in  later  years  transfigured  into  love- 
liness. Unfortunately  the  reverse  is  also  true;  the  evil 
passions  burn  in  their  brand  with  hideous  letters  of  flame. 
The  latter  was  the  case  with  Thaddeus  Stevens.  His  picture 
engraved  on  the  mind  is  terrible  to  look  at,  compelling  a 
morbid  fascination.  He  was  an  instance  of  the  inevitable 
penalty  exacted  by  natural  law,  and  we  try  to  turn  away  our 
eyes  from  the  revolting  sight.  As  in  some  of  Rembrandt's 
works,  from  a  dark,  gloomy,  portentous  background  we  see 
the  strong  face  of  a  man,  originally  in  the  image  of  God,  stand 
out  from  the  canvas  with  the  Satanic  expression  of  the  fallen 
angel,  and  the  memory  we  carry  to  our  dying  day 

Of  Moloch  homicide,  lust  hard  by  hate. 

It  is  a  most  remarkable  thing,  that  the  purpose  of  Thad- 
deus Stevens,  parented,  conceived  and  born  of  hatred  of  the 
white  race,  should  have  in  fact  brought  to  it  a  great  moral 
gain,  a  result  exactly  the  opposite  of  that  intended  by  him. 
Instead  of  hybridizing  the  South;  instead  of  converting  it 
into  a  Haiti  or  Santo  Domingo,  his  measures  rent  asunder  the 
races,  destroyed  forever  the  former  patriarchal  feeling,  and 
formed  a  public  opinion  deep  in  conviction  and  passionate  in 
sentiment  against  all  illicit  association.  Even  upon  those 
incapable  of  rising  to  this  moral  plane  racial  self-respect  has 
imposed  its  will  by  decreeing  such  a  connection  to  be  "bad 
form,"  a  social  stigma,  a  bar,  the  badge  of  Circe's  "swine" 
and  the  product  the  sign-manual  of  treason  against  Aryan 
blood.  Thus  was  this  smirch  wiped  from  the  face  of  the 
South.  She 

hath  mightily  won 

God  out  of  knowledge  and  good  out  of  Infinite  pain 
And  sight  out  of  blindness  and  purity  out  of  a  stain. 


BECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  83 

But  history  is  never  tired  of  bringing  its  surprises,  pre- 
senting apparent  anomalies,  for  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction. 
The  Thaddeus  Stevens  faction  not  only  tore  to  tatters  Lin- 
coln's programme  of  Reconstruction,  dashing  in  ruin  his 
dearest  hopes  and  aspirations,  but  also,  besides  this,  during 
the  eight  years  following  Andrew  Johnson's  administration 
and  until  the  people  called  a  halt  under  Hayes's  conscientious 
work,  ran  counter  to  almost  every  other  ideal,  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  cherished.  Hence  it  came  about  that  Lincoln,  the 
true  Lincoln,  became  an  honored  name  at  the  South,  whereas 
his  picture  was  turned  to  the  wall  by  the  dominant  faction 
in  the  other  section. 

If  Mr.  Lincoln  had  remained  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of 
state  he  would  have  steered  her  aright,  clear  of  the  Charybdis 
of  Eeconstruction  as  he  had  kept  her  off  of  what  he  regarded 
as  the  Scylla  of  disunion.  The  opposite  in  nature  of  a  vision- 
ary or  fanatic,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  practical  common 
sense,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say  he  possessed  wisdom. 
Devoted  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  because  he  sincerely 
believed  it  to  be  of  paramount  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
all,  his  devotion  was  the  offspring  of  love  of  country,  not  the 
product  of  protectionist  self-interest,  or  imperialist  ambition, 
and  he  wished  the  end  accomplished  with  the  least  prac- 
ticable dislocation  of  existing  law.  He  had  advocated  before 
the  war  the  exclusion  of  negro  slavery  from  the  Territories, 
knowing  full  well  that  this  meant  its  ultimate  extinction  in 
all  the  States  and  was  willing  to  see  it  abolished  even  by 
extra-legal  means,  when  the  time  came  with  the  triumph  of 
the  North,  but  in  all  this  he  was  actuated  only  by  a  determin- 
ation to  do  his  utmost,  according  to  his  lights,  to  preserve 
the  Union,  and  not  from  any  sentimental  abstract  love  for  the 
negro.  Of  Southern  origin,  he  looked  upon  the  negro  as  did 
the  other  plain  people  of  the  section  from  which  he  sprang, 
and  to  him  negro  social  equality,  or  political  power  on  an 
important  scale,  would  have  been  as  repugnant,  as  it  was  to 
the  large  land-owners,  for  whom — unlike  Andrew  Johnson — 
he  did  not  entertain  any  personal  animosity.  Toward  the 
"poor  whites"  of  the  South  sectional  feeling  could  raise  no 
barrier  in  his  heart  against  sympathy  in  their  distress,  for  he 


84  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

was  one  of  them  in  blood.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  so 
strongly  entrenched  in  the  affection  and  imagination  of  the 
people  of  the  North,  that  he  would  probably  have  been  able 
to  hold  at  bay  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  his  followers — many  of 
whom  were  very  unwilling  followers — and  the  great  warm 
heart  of  the  South  would  have  gone  out  to  him  with  a  pas- 
sionate impulse  of  gratitude  that  would  have  bridged  with 
the  celerity  of  the  pontoon  and  the  durability  of  the  granite 
arch  the  gulf  of  former  misunderstandings. 

Let  me  try  to  illustrate  one  Southern  soldier's  feeling  when 
realizing  justice  and  magnanimity  from  a  conqueror's  point 
of  view,  though  so  different  from  his  own.  The  man,  who  had 
previously  served  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  was  on 
detached  service  with  the  cavalry  from  Columbia  to  the  final 
surrender  of  Johnston.  Every  day  he  had  seen  homes — the 
humblest  ones,  as  well  as  stately  mansions — causelessly 
burned  without  military  reason,  decrepit  age,  defenseless 
women,  helpless  infants  turned  out  without  shelter  or  food 
to  the  mercy  of  God  alone.  Each  night  he  had  witnessed  the 
skies  lighted  up  far  and  wide,  a  swath  of  flame,  a  hell  on 
earth.  There  was  hardly  a  day  when  he  was  not  a  spectator 
or  participant  in  fighting.  To  run  down  "Sherman's  Bum- 
mers," like  wolves,  seemed  to  him  a  sacred  duty.  He  was  an 
enthusiast,  a  fanatic,  if  you  like.  The  contest  ended,  he 
regarded  Sherman  as  the  incarnation  of  all  that  is  most  hor- 
rible and  detestable  in  unjustifiable  methods  of  war.  Years 
passed  and  he  became  an  old  man,  but  time  had  not  modified 
his  sentiments  in  this  respect.  Happening  to  be  in  New  York 
after  the  unveiling  of  St.  Gauden's  statue  to  Sherman,  he 
went  to  see  it  as  a  work  of  art — only  because  it  had  been 
executed  by  St.  Gaudens — never  having  seen  illustrations  or 
read  descriptions  of  it.  When  at  length  he  looked  at  the 
statue,  the  feelings,  which  I  have  described,  were  never  more 
vividly  alive.  But  he  looked,  and  saw  in  the  idealized  con- 
ception of  the  artist  a  stately  conqueror  on  a  noble  charger, 
but  in  advance  of  him,  pressing  forward,  shining  golden  in 
the  sunlight  of  Heaven,  strode  the  angel  of  peace  proffering 
the  olive  branch.  Then,  as  if  by  a  flash  of  lightning,  stood 
revealed  a  glimpse  into  the  heart  of  the  conqueror,  and  the 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  THE  SOUTH  85 

man's  own  heart  thrilled  in  touch,  as  if  by  an  electric  shock ; 
the  memory  of  that  convention,  which  Sherman  formulated 
with  Johnston — repudiated  at  Washington — rushed  into  his 
mind  like  a  new  revelation.  The  artist  in  that  second  of  time 
had  changed  the  man  so  that,  altering  not  at  all  his  convic- 
tions as  to  the  merits  of  the  past  contest,  but  allowing  for  a 
different  point  of  view  in  others,  he  could  sincerely  feel  for 
his  country, 

Thy  Past  sings  ever  Freedom's  song, 
Thy  Future's  voice  sounds  wondrous  free ; 
And  Freedom  is  more  large  than  Crime, 
And  Error  is  more  small  than  Time. 

And  how  did  military  government  "work"  considered 
from  the  view-point  of  the  governed.  It  was  infinitely 
preferable  to  the  negro  supremacy  that  followed.  This  was 
certainly  true  of  South  Carolina.  But  not  for  any  trivial, 
silly  sentiment  did  the  representatives  of  our  race  "riot"  at 
Kunnimede,  or  behead  Charles,  or  drive  out  James,  nor  for 
such  was  George  Third  ejected  from  America.  Nor  were  our 
forefathers  all  fools,  because  they  dreaded  and  would  not 
tolerate  standing  armies  in  time  of  peace.  Reconstruction 
has  left  many  legacies  of  evil  to  the  American  people,  but  not 
the  least  of  these  is  the  precedent  established  for  all  time  of 
despotism  unresistingly  endured  by  one  side,  loudly  ap- 
plauded by  the  other. 


86  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


CHAPTER  FOURTH 
RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

Our  hearths  are  gone  out  and  our  hearts  are  broken, 
And  but  the  ghosts  of  homes  to  us  remain, 

And  ghastly  eyes,  and  hollow  sighs  give  token, 
From  friend  to  friend  of  an  unspoken  pain. 

O !  raven  days,  dark  raven  days  of  sorrow, 

Will  ever  any  warm  light  come  again? 
Will  ever  the  lit  mountains  of  Tomorrow 

Begin  to  gleam  athwart  the  mournful  plain? 

— Sidney  Lanier. 

Reconstruction  in  South  Carolina  was  the  same  in  general 
scope  as  in  other  Southern  States,  but  the  effects  here  were 
more  ruinous  at  the  time,  and  the  injury  more  permanent, 
than  elsewhere.  This  was  because,  through  the  large  prepon- 
derance in  numbers  of  negroes  over  the  white  population, 
black  supremacy  under  the  aegis  of  Federal  support  became 
at  once  established,  and  ran  riot  at  will.  "Red-Rock,"  by 
Mr.  Page,  besides  being  a  charming  story,  is  no  doubt  a  cor- 
rect picture  of  Virginia  during  that  period,  but  it  is  as  far 
from  representing  conditions  then  existing  in  South  Carolina, 
as  an  autumn  gloaming  would  be  from  a  black  wintry  night. 
The  counties  from  the  centre  of  the  State  to  the  seaboard 
suffered  most,  as  in  that  section  was  concentrated  the  great 
mass  of  the  negroes  and  also  because,  in  those  times,  was 
there  the  greatest  amount  of  previously  acquired  wealth, 
which  proved  a  magnet  for  attracting  the  keenest  and  most 
voracious  "carpet-baggers."  It  will  require  the  efforts  of 
more  than  the  life-time  of  two  generations  born  since  1865, 
say  fifty  years,  or  more,  to  make  up  for  the  material  injury 
then  sustained.  It  is  from  this  cause  chiefly  that  Charleston, 
possessing  admittedly  a  very  fine  deep-water  harbor  and  a 
healthful  climate  at  all  seasons — by  far  the  best  port  in  natu- 
ral advantages  on  the  South  Atlantic  coast — finds  herself 
today  handicapped  in  her  interior  transportation-lines,  as 
well  as  her  coastwise  and  foreign  ones  by  water.  It  is  true 
that  it  also  required  a  decade  for  Florida  and  Louisiana  to 
pass  back  into  the  government  of  their  own  people,  but  the 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  87 

plight  of  those  States  during  that  period  was  not  so  desperate. 
In  Florida  at  that  date  there  was  not  so  much  to  steal  and 
therefore  she  did  not  attract  so  many  first-class  robbers.  Lou- 
isiana had  been  reorganized  as  to  civil  government  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  before  the  end  of  the  war,  without  the  imposition  of 
negro  suffrage,  and,  although  this  government  was  over- 
thrown by  the  Reconstruction  Acts,  yet  the  organization  of 
party  previously  created  survived  in  a  measure  the  cataclysm, 
and  was  able  to  effect  much  good  by  lessening  the  practical 
effect  of  the  evils.  Thus  all  the  other  States  got  "head-start" 
of  South  Carolina  in  the  struggle  for  bread  and  in  the  steeple- 
chase for  wealth. 

Under  the  Reconstruction  Acts  of  March,  1867,  the  com- 
manding General  in  South  Carolina  during  October  regis- 
tered voters  to  elect  delegates  to  a  convention  "to  frame  a 
Constitution  and  civil  government."  All  male  negroes,  who 
had  presumably  attained  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  whites 
over  twenty-one,  not  disfranchised,  and  who  took  the  "iron- 
clad oath,"  which  excluded  nearly  all,  could  be  registered  at 
his  discretion  by  the  military  officer.  This  excluded  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  whites,  and  all  the  prominent  ones. 
On  a  fair  registration  in  the  State  there  would  probably  have 
been  a  negro  majority  of  about  twenty  thousand  or  more, 
even  if  no  whites  had  been  excluded.  With  a  large  percentage 
of  whites  disfranchised,  and  almost  unlimited  "repeating" 
on  the  part  of  the  blacks,  any  majority  desired  could  be 
obtained  for  the  latter.  A  Constitutional  Convention  thus 
organized  met  in  Charleston  on  January  14,  1868,  consist- 
ing of  a  sprinkling  of  whites — strangers  to  the  State,  almost 
all — and  the  rest  negroes,  very  few  of  whom  could  read  or 
write  or  had  the  faintest  conception  of  what  legislation 
meant. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  the  opinion  on  this 
point  of  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Chamberlain,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  Convention : 

("Atlantic  Monthly,"  April,  1901.)  "The  property,  the 
education,  and  intelligence,  the  experience  in  self-government 
and  public  affairs  in  this  State,  were,  of  course,  wholly  with 
its  white  population.  Numbers  alone  were  with  the  rest.  It 


88  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

[the  Convention]  did  not  contain  one  Democrat,  or  one  white 
man,  who  had  high  standing  in  the  State  previously." 

On  March  6,  1867,  an  address  was  issued  from  Columbia 
by  the  "Conservative"  Party  appealing  to  Congress  and  their 
countrymen  generally  against  the  imposition  upon  them  of 
the  Reconstruction  legislation  just  passed.  The  language  is 
dignified,  eloquent,  and  touching  in  its  calm  and  earnest 
statement  of  the  case,  and  the  words  seem  now,  in  the  light  of 
results,  like  inspired  prophecy,  but  the  outcome  of  Recon- 
struction was  in  fact  what  any  one  possessing  common  sense, 
and  knowledge  of  the  negro  could  not  fail  to  foresee.  Later 
on  the  Conservatives  protested  to  Congress  against  the  Con- 
stitution, about  to  be  presented  to  the  latter  by  the  Conven- 
tion, in  these  words : 

"The  Constitution  was  the  work  of  Northern  adventurers, 
Southern  renegades,  and  ignorant  negroes.  Not  one  per  cent, 
of  the  white  population  of  the  State  approves  of  it,  and  not 
two  per  cent,  of  the  negroes,  who  voted  for  its  adoption, 
understood  what  this  act  of  voting  implied. — We  do  not  mean 
to  threaten  resistance  by  arms,  but  the  people  of  our  State 
will  never  quietly  submit  to  negro  rule.  We  may  pass  under 
the  yoke  you  have  authorized,  but  by  moral  agencies,  by  polit- 
ical organization,  by  every  peaceful  means  left  us,  we  will 
keep  up  this  contest  until  we  have  regained  the  political 
control  handed  down  to  us  by  an  honored  ancestry." 

Adverse  criticisms  of  the  conduct  of  the  whites  in  taking 
virtually  no  part  in  the  Constitutional  Convention — not 
heard  at  the  time — became  quite  frequent  after  the  pernicious 
effects  of  the  Congressional  programme  had  become  too  pal- 
pable to  be  denied.  It  was  alleged  that  the  white  population 
could  and  should  have  shaped  the  course  of  the  Convention. 
But  they,  on  their  part,  assert  that  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  do  so,  and  that,  because  of  its  being  self-evidently 
impossible,  it  was  not  attempted;  that  the  registered  negro 
voters  were  in  an  enormous  majority  and  under  the  control 
of  the  white  "carpet-bag"  demagogues,  and  that  a  fair  vote 
was  out  of  the  question ;  that  the  influence,  which  the  white 
population  might  otherwise  have,  to  some  extent,  exerted 
over  the  blacks,  was  practically  nullified  by  the  large  per- 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  89 

centage  of  the  disfranchised,  whose  hands  were  tied  and 
whose  discredit  thus  created  with  the  negroes  reacted  upon 
the  hold  that  others  might  have  in  a  measure  maintained 
upon  them.  Besides,  they  declared  their  conviction  that,  even 
if  it  had  been  practicable  for  them  to  organize  a  possible  civil 
government,  this  would  have  been  unacceptable  to  the  faction 
then  ruling  at  Washington  and  would  have  been  upset,  just 
as  the  Lincoln-Johnson  State  had  been  overturned.  They 
believed  it  to  be  self-evident  that  the  programme  "Thorough" 
was  inexorably  decreed  for  them;  that,  either  because  of  a 
doctrinaire  belief  that  negroes  were  as  competent  to  rule  as 
the  white  population,  and  that  the  majority  of  all  ought  to 
rule ;  or  else  that,  to  perpetuate  political  factional  triumph  at 
Washington,  to  the  blacks  was  to  be  given  free  hand  to  plun- 
der the  property  of  the  whites — the  only  community-assets 
existing — or,  if  they  could,  Africanize  the  State,  provided 
that,  in  return  for  this,  they  handed  over  to  their  friends  at 
Washington  the  presidential  electoral  votes,  and  the  congres- 
sional delegation  at  every  general  election.  Meantime  the 
only  part  left  the  white  population  in  the  picture  was  to 
supply  cash  exacted  for  taxes,  to  furnish  the  carcass  to  fatten 
negro  and  "carpet-bagger."  Believing  thus,  they  determined 
on  the  course  of  conduct  set  forth  in  this  protest  to  Con- 
gress, which  I  have  already  quoted : 

"We  do  not  mean  to  threaten  resistance  by  arms,  but  the 
people  of  our  State  will  never  quietly  submit  to  negro  rule. 
We  may  pass  .under  the  yoke  you  have  authorized,  but  by 
moral  agencies,  by  political  organization,  by  every  peaceful 
means  left  us,  we  will  keep  up  this  contest  until  we  have 
regained  the  poltical  control  handed  down  by  an  honored 
ancestry." 

They  knew  that  at  least  one  element  of  strength  was 
ensured  to  them  by  the  attempt  to  force  upon  them  negro 
supremacy ;  the  only  part  of  civil  society  then  worthy  of  the 
name  would  spontaneously  close  up  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
in  a  solid  phalanx,  and  remain  so,  and  that  it  would  be 
reinforced  by  every  honest  immigrant  coming  to  the  State 
from  whose  eyes  the  scales  of  prejudice  would  soon  fall  when 
confronted  with  facts.  Very  much  they  counted  for  a  power- 


90  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

ful  ally  upon  "the  sober  second  thought  of  the  people"  at  the 
North,  for  well  did  they  remember  Lincoln's  saying,  that 
"you  can  fool  all  the  people  some  of  the  time,  you  can  fool 
some  of  the  people  all  the  time,  but  you  can't  fool  all  the 
people  all  the  time." 

So,  as  soon  as  the  empty  form  of  civil  government  had  been 
set  up  in  spite  of  their  earnest  protests,  they,  without  having 
compromised  themselves  by  a  quasi-sanction  of  the  proceed- 
ings through  a  nominal  participation  in  them,  began  to  take 
part  in  politics,  as  far  as  disfranchisement  would  allow. 
Their  patient  purpose  was,  not  to  set  up  candidates  of  their 
own,  as  a  rule,  but  to  support  one,  or  other  of  the  factions 
developing  from  time  in  the  local  Radical  (i.  e.,  Straight 
Republican)  party,  which  factions  always  styled  themselves 
"Reformers."  They  were  never  successful  in  important  elec- 
tions, were  "counted  out"  again  and  again,  but  they  kept 
hammering  on  the  wedge  of  cleavage  of  the  Radical  party,  a 
policy  which  bore  fruit  in  1876,  and  which  exercised  some 
mitigating  effect  throughout  the  entire  miserable  period 
preceding.  But  all  the  time,  in  the  foresight  of  the  wise,  and 
in  the  blind  unswerving  faith  of  the  multitude,  was  kept 
firmly  fixed  the  inexorable  resolve  that  true  representative 
government  was  the  goal  in  view,  and  that  skirmishing 
meanwhile  was  only  for  tactical  advantages;  that  represen- 
tative government  they  would  eventually  attain  to,  or  else, 
failing  this,  again  a  military  despotism  of  white  men;  but 
that  negro  supremacy  was  never,  except  temporarily  and 
under  transient  duress,  to  be  endured. 

The  first  Governor  elected  (virtually  by  himself)  with 
State  officers  and  Legislature,  in  1868,  under  the  above 
regime,  was  R.  K.  Scott,  Brigadier-General  of  Volunteers 
from  Ohio,  and  agent  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  He  was 
reflected  (in  the  same  way)  in  1870  for  a  further  term  of 
two  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  F.  J.  Moses,  known  as  the 
"Robber  Governor,"  though  why  specially  honored  by  this 
distinction  above  his  predecessor  it  would  be  hard  to  say. 
In  1874  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Chamberlain  was  the  regular  Republi- 
can ("Radical")  candidate  for  Governor  against  John  T. 
Green,  a  Republican  and  so-called  "Reformer."  The  majority 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  91 

reported  as  counted  for  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  about  twelve 
thousand.  The  Governor-elect  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts, 
and  in  politics  and  personal  feelings  an  extreme  original 
abolitionist  of  the  Garrison  school.  He  had  graduated  at 
Yale,  and  then  pursued  law  studies  for  about  one  year  at 
Harvard.  In  the  spring  of  1864  he  entered  the  United  States 
Army  as  lieutenant  in  a  negro  cavalry  regiment  just  then 
organized,  which  served  during  the  last  year  of  the  war  in 
connection,  with  the  Army  of  the  James,  guarding  depots  of 
military  stores.  He  came  to  South  Carolina  for  the  first 
time  in  January,  1866,  when  in  his  thirty-first  year,  was  a 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  attorney- 
general  under  Scott  during  the  next  four  years.  Owing  to 
factional  dissensions  he  was  thrown  out  of  office  until  1874, 
when  he  was  elected,  as  above  stated,  as  Radical  candidate 
for  Governor. 

As  this  narrative  will  now  have  to  deal  with  the  period  of 
1876,  and  the  events  immediately  affecting  it,  when  Wade 
Hampton  performed  services  for  his  State  and  the  country 
in  general  of  inestimable  value,  it  will  be  necessary  to  en- 
deavor briefly  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  the  condition  of  affair 
then  existing,  political,  industrial,  and  social.  We  must  try 
to  picture  the  actual  results  of  "Thorough."  Heretofore  we 
have  said  something  about  the  seed-time,  but  now  we  have 
the  harvest  before  us.  In  order  to  effect  this  purpose  in  a 
manner  that  must  be  necessarily  convincing  to  the  reader, 
because  unquestionably  free  from  Southern  bias,  I  shall  ask 
but  two  witnesses  to  take  the  stand,  both  Republicans  of 
unquestioned  party  loyalty,  and  both  admirably  informed 
upon  the  subject.  The  first  of  these  is  Mr.  James  S.  Pike, 
formerly  United  States  Minister  at  The  Hague,  who  spent 
about  two  months  in  Columbia,  S.  0.,  in  the  spring  of  1873, 
and  published  during  1874  a  book  called  "The  Prostrate 
State."  Speaking  of  the  Legislature  he  says : 

"They  were  of  every  hue,  from  the  light  octoroon  to  the 
deep  black.  Every  negro  type  and  physiognomy  was  here  to 
be  seen,  from  the  genteel  serving-man  to  the  rough-hewn 
customer  from  the  rice,  or  cotton  field.  Their  dress  was  as 
varied  as  their  countenances.  There  was  the  second-hand 


92  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

black  frock-coat  of  infirm  gentility,  glossy  and  threadbare. 
There  was  the  stove-pipe  hat  of  many  ironings,  and  departed 
styles.  There  was  also  to  be  seen  a  total  disregard  of  the 
proprieties  of  costume  in  the  coarse  and  dirty  garments  of 
the  field,  the  stub-jackets,  and  slouch  hats  of  soiling  labor. 
In  some  instances  rough  woolen  comforters  embraced  the 
neck,  and  hid  the  absence  of  linen.  Heavy  brogans  and 
short  torn  trousers  it  was  impossible  to  hide.  The  dusky 
crowd  flowed  out  of  the  capitol  into  the  littered  and  barren 
grounds,  and  issuing  through  the  coarse  wooden  fence  of  the 
enclosure  melted  away  into  the  street  beyond.  These  were 
the  legislators  of  South  Carolina.  In  conspicuous  bas-relief 
over  the  door  of  exit  on  the  panels  of  the  stately  edifice  the 
marble  visages  of  George  McDuffie  and  Robert  Y.  Hayne 
overlooked  the  scene.  'My  God!  Look  at  this!'  was  the  un- 
bidden ejaculation  of  a  low-country  planter  clad  in  home- 
spun, as  he  leaned  over  the  rail  inside  the  house,  gazing 
excitedly  upon  the  body  in  session. — Here,  then,  is  the  out- 
come, the  ripe  perfected  fruit  of  the  boasted  civilization  of 
the  South  after  two  hundred  years  of  experience.  A  white 
community  that  had  gradually  risen  from  small  beginnings 
till  it  grew  into  wealth,  culture  and  refinement,  and  became 
accomplished  in  all  the  arts  of  civilization ;  that  successfully 
asserted  its  resistance  to  a  foreign  tyranny  by  deeds  of  con- 
spicuous valor,  which  achieved  liberty  and  independence 
through  the  fire  and  tempest  of  civil  war,  and  illustrated 
itself  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  by  orators,  and  statesmen 
worthy  of  any  age,  or  nation.  Such  a  community  as  this 
reduced  to  this.  It  lies  prostrate  in  the  dust,  ruled  over  by 
this  strange  conglomerate  gathered  from  the  ranks  of  its 
own  servile  population.  It  is  the  spectacle  of  a  society  sud- 
denly turned  bottom  side  up. — In  the  place  of  this  old  aris- 
tocratic society,  stands  the  rude  form  of  the  most  ignorant 
democracy  that  mankind  ever  saw,  invested  with  the  func- 
tions of  government.  It  is  the  dregs  of  the  population 
habilitated  in  the  robes  of  their  intelligent  predecessors,  and 
asserting  over  them  the  rule  of  ignorance  and  corruption 
through  the  inexorable  machinery  of  a  majority  of  numbers. 
It  is  barbarism  overwhelming  civilization  by  physical  force. 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  93 

It  is  the  slave  rioting  in  the  halls  of  his  master  and  putting 
that  master  under  his  feet.  ...  As  things  stand,  the 
body  is  almost  literally  a  Black  Parliament,  and  it  is  the 
only  one  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  which  is  the  representative 
of  a  white  constituency,  and  the  professed  exponent  of  an 
advanced  type  of  modern  civilization.  But  the  reader  will 
find  almost  any  portraiture  inadequate  to  give  a  vivid  idea  of 
the  body  and  enable  him  to  comprehend  the  complete  meta- 
morphosis of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature,  without  observ- 
ing its  details.  The  speaker  is  black,  the  clerk  is  black,  the 
doorkeepers  are  black,  the  little  pages  are  black,  the  chair- 
man of  the  ways  and  means  is  black,  the  chaplain  is 
coal-black.  At  some  of  the  desks  sit  colored  men  whose  types 
it  would  be  hard  to  find  outside  of  Congo:  whose  costume, 
visages,  attitudes,  and  expression  only  befit  the  forecastle  of 
a  buccaneer.  .  .  .  It  is  in  the  unpremeditated  language 
of  the  leading  Republican  newspaper  of  Columbia  in  advo- 
cating compulsory  education,  that  the  negroes  are  termed 
'ignorant,  narrow-minded,  vicious,  worthless  animals.'  This 
is  the  spontaneous  criticism  of  an  editor  who  is  a  child,  and 
a  champion  of  black  rule,  betrayed  accidentally  into  the 
expression  of  his  real  sentiments  through  the  urgency  of  his 
advocacy  of  compulsory  education.  .  .  .  The  black  con- 
stituency of  Charleston  itself  is  today  represented  by  men 
who  belong  in  the  penitentiary.  .  .  .  It  is  bad  enough  to 
have  the  decency,  and  intelligence,  and  property  of  the  State 
subjected  to  the  domination  of  its  ignorant  black  pauper 
multitude,  but  it  becomes  unendurable  when  to  that 
ignorance  the  worst  vices  are  superadded.  ...  In  view- 
ing the  condition  of  South  Carolina  one  naturally  is  led  to 
inquire  into  the  political  situation  of  its  chief  city,  Charles- 
ton. The  last  remaining  privilege  of  counting  and  recording 
its  own  vote  has  been  taken  away  from  it  by  the  last  Legis- 
lature, apparently  for  the  reason  that  a  majority  of  its 
citizens  are  opposed  to  the  ruling  dynasty.  That  body  has 
passed  an  act  giving  to  the  Governor  the  appointment  of 
commissioners  and  sub-commissioners,  who  are  to  take  entire 
charge  of  the  city  elections,  control  the  ballot-boxes,  count  the 
votes,  and,  of  course,  manipulate  the  electors  in  such  way  as 


94  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

they  please.  With  such  wholly  unscrupulous  persons,  as  they 
have  in  Charleston  to  manage  elections,  this  scheme  is  equiva- 
lent to  subverting  the  right  of  election  altogether.  . 
The  rule  of  South  Carolina  should  not  be  dignified  with  the 
name  of  government.  It  is  the  installation  of  a  huge  system 
of  brigandage.  The  men,  who  have  had  it  in  control,  and 
who  now  have  it  in  control,  are  the  picked  villains  of  the 
community.  They  are  the  highwaymen  of  the  State.  They 
are  professional  legislative  robbers.  They  are  men  who  have 
studied  and  practised  the  art  of  legalized  theft.  They  are 
in  no  sense  different  from,  or  better  than,  the  men  who  fill 
the  prisons  and  penitentiaries  of  the  world.  They  are  in 
fact  of  precisely  that  class,  only  more  daring  and  audacious. 
They  pick  your  pockets  by  law.  They  confiscate  your  estate 
by  law.  They  do  none  of  these  things  even  under  the  tyrant's 
plea  of  the  public  good,  or  the  public  necessity.  They  do  all 
simply  to  enrich  themselves  personally.  The  sole  base  object 
is  to  gorge  the  individual  with  public  plunder.  .  .  .  The 
present  government  of  South  Carolina  is  not  only  corrupt 
and  oppressive,  it  is  insulting.  It  denies  the  exercise  of  the 
rights  of  white  communities,  because  they  are  white.  .  .  . 
As  it  is  morally,  so  it  is  intellectually.  These  same  rulers  of 
a  great  State,  speaking  of  them  as  a  whole,  neither  read,  nor 
write.  They  are  as  ignorant  and  irresponsible  in  the  exercise 
of  their  political  functions  as  would  be  the  Bedouin  Arab  of 
the  desert,  or  the  roving  Comanches  of  the  plains,  if  called 
upon  to  choose  the  rulers  of  New  York,  or  Massachu- 
setts. ..." 

This  and  much  more  of  similar  import  writes  Mr.  Pike, 
who,  coming  to  the  State  on  a  visit  for  health  and  recreation, 
saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  fruits  of  Reconstruction  through 
negro  supremacy.  He  speaks,  too,  of  the  demoralization 
among  Federal,  as  well  as  State  office-holders,  as  follows : 

"The  only  authority  to  which  these  miscreants  pay  the  least 
deference  is  the  Federal  Government,  for  its  power  and  its 
countenance  are  requisite  to  the  success  of  many  of  their  own 
operations.  .  .  .  That,  for  some  reason,  it  has  not  exer- 
cised its  influence  to  any  appreciable  extent  in  the  interest 
of  good  government,  is  evident.  It  might  do  much  toward 


RECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  95 

repressing  many  corrupt  practices,  and  raising  the  moral 
tone  of  the  State  government.  It  has  not  done  this.  Some 
of  the  leaders  of  affairs  are  men  who  have  merely  adopted 
Republicanism  as  a  cloak  for  their  villainies.  .  .  ." 

Very  much  more  of  interest  Mr.  Pike  relates  about  the 
nefarious  practises  of  the  executive,  judicial,  and  financial 
departments  of  the  State  government,  but  the  foregoing  is 
enough,  and  too  much,  for  pleasant  reading.  As,  however, 
he  had  no  opportunity  of  viewing  the  constituencies  from 
which  the  representatives  he  has  sketched  were  derived,  it 
may  not  be  superfluous  to  subjoin  a  picture  of  one  of  these. 
It  was  painted  from  life,  and  is  not  a  caricature,  but  a  fair 
portrait.  Very  many  such,  or  worse  ones,  could  have  been 
seen  on  the  coast  islands,  or  among  the  large  partially  de- 
serted plantations  and  farms,  where  the  negroes  formerly, 
as  well  as  at  that  time,  greatly  outnumbered — perhaps  in  the 
proportion  of  forty  or  fifty  to  one — the  white  population. 
Indeed  the  locality,  where  the  following  scene  was  enacted, 
was  not  many  miles  distant  from  the  constituency  which 
sent  Mr.  Chamberlain  to  the  Constitutional  Convention. 

It  was  on  the  afternoon  and  evening  of  the  day  preceding 
the  "Sabbath"  that  this  grotesque  "Cotter's  Saturday  night" 
could  be  witnessed.  From  deserted  plantations,  and  fields 
mostly  untilled,  fast  returning  to  the  appearance  of  the 
primeval  wilderness;  from  rude  cabins  of  logs  in  the  pine- 
woods  ;  from  phosphate  mines  operated  nearby ;  from  far  and 
near,  came  a  motley  throng  of  negroes  and  negresses,  frowsy, 
ragged,  filthy,  and  half  naked.  Laborers  from  the  mines, 
desperate  in  look,  and  nature,  accompanied  by  a  squalid  fol- 
lowing of  female  lewdness  and  ribaldry;  hands  from  the 
hoe  encased  in  the  dirt  of  months;  deacons  and  preachers, 
loafers,  and  idlers  of  nondescript  type ;  they  all  were  stream- 
ing to  the  rendezvous  at  a  large  country  store  kept  by  one 
white  man  and  a  clerk.  They  came  primarily  to  invest  the 
wages  just  received  for  the  week,  or  the  proceeds  of  labor,  or 
theft,  in  villainous  whiskey,  and  tobacco,  cakes  and  candy, 
and  incidentally  to  buy  with  what  money  was  left  a  little 
bacon,  and  flour,  and  many  knives  and  pistols  for  the  men, 
and  gaudy  bonnets,  parasols,  or  similarly  useful  articles  for 


96  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  women.  The  evening  became  cold  and  rainy,  and  they 
were  all  ceaselessly  crowding,  struggling,  and  fighting  to  get 
into  the  shelter  of  the  store.  This  was  a  large,  barn-like 
building  of  rough  boards,  the  entire  space  within  being  a  huge 
room  from  one  end  of  which  a  small  compartment  was  par- 
titioned off  where  the  storekeeper  slept  and  lived,  and  it  was 
from  this  vantage-ground,  the  only  place  from  which  the 
throng  was  excluded,  that  such  a  scene  was  for  the  first  time 
viewed  by  one  secure  from  harm  by  the  possession  of  a  shot- 
gun and  plenty  of  cartridges,  for  he  had  been  shooting  that 
day,  and  had  sought  there  shelter  from  the  storm.  The  two 
white  storekeepers  were  the  only  other  representatives  of 
their  race — and  far  from  worthy  ones,  too — within  a  consid- 
erable distance,  and  for  a  radius  of  miles  there  were  very 
few  others.  The  large  uninviting  enclosure  within  soon 
became  packed  to  repletion  with  a  dense  mass  of  sweltering, 
reeking,  half -naked  blacks,  jostling  and  fighting  to  be  served 
first  with  whiskey.  The  voices  of  this  race  in  normal  tones 
are  soft  and  attractive,  but  when  raised  to  a  high  pitch  in 
shrieks  and  yells,  become  very  discordant  and  brutal  in 
sound,  and  soon  a  babel  of  blasphemy  and  lewd,  drunken 
howls  created  an  uproar  indescribable.  The  place  was  dimly 
lighted  by  two  foul-smelling  oil  lamps  hung  from  the  rafters 
out  of  reach,  and  with  the  odor  from  these  was  mingled  that 
of  whiskey  and  clouds  of  tobacco  smoke,  together  with 
another  unmentionable,  converting  the  air  into  nauseous 
poison.  Now  and  then  a  fight  would  occur,  when  sufficient 
space  could  be  had,  in  which  the  women  would  join  frenzied 
with  rage  and  drink.  Occasionally  a  girl,  some  special 
favorite  presumably,  would  leap  high  into  the  air  with  a 
fearful  squeal,  with  skirts — her  only  lower  garment — held 
high  over  head,  and  then,  room  on  the  floor  being  accorded 
by  the  crowd  with  a  lecherous  shout  that  baffles  description, 
she  would  proceed  to  execute  an  unspeakably  lustful  dance 
and  gyrations,  which  would  have  put  to  blush  the  most 
brazen  votaries  of  the  "can-can,"  and  forcibly  reminded  one 
of  the  Voodoo  rites  in  Haiti  as  described  by  Spencer  St.  John. 
It  was  a  scene,  with  all  its  brutal  and  savage  accompani- 
ments, never  to  be  forgotten,  always  remembered  as  a  picture 


KECONSTRUCTION  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA  97 

of  an  inferno  suitable  for  a  frontispiece  to  the  history  of 
negro  supremacy.  And  yet  it  was  nothing  unusual. 

I  shall  now  submit  a  few  lines  of  Mr.  Chamberlain's  testi- 
mony (Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1901)  : 

"Before  the  war  the  average  expense  of  the  annual  session 
of  the  Legislature  in  South  Carolina  did  not  exceed  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  For  the  six  years  following  Reconstruc- 
tion the  average  annual  expense  was  over  three  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  .  .  .  The  cost  of  public  print- 
ing for  the  first  six  years  [of  Reconstruction]  was  one 
million,  one  hundred  and  four  thousand  dollars.  .  .  .  The 
total  public  debt  of  South  Carolina  at  the  beginning  of  Recon- 
struction was  less  than  one  million  dollars.  At  the  end  of  the 
year  1872,  five  years  later,  the  direct  public  debt  amounted  to 
over  seventeen  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  For 
all  this  increase  the  State  had  not  a  single  public  improve- 
ment of  any  sort  to  show ;  and  of  this  debt  over  five  millions 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  had  been  formally 
repudiated  by  the  party  and  the  men  who  had  created  the 
debt  and  received  and  handled  its  proceeds.  .  .  .  Public 
offices  were  objects  of  vulgar  commonplace  bargain  and  sale. 
Justice  in  the  lower  and  higher  courts  was  bought  and  sold ; 
or  rather  those  who  sat  in  the  seats  nominally  of  justice  made 
traffic  of  their  judicial  powers." 

Deplorable  and  shocking  as  all  this  is,  the  facts  proved  by 
Mr.  Pike  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  only  represent  the  less  miser- 
able outside  surface,  and  do  not  touch  upon  the  tragedy  to  be 
witnessed,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  in  every  home;  gray 
heads  sinking  into  the  grave  from  insufficient  and  improper 
food;  parents  half-crazed  by  inability  to  furnish  adequate 
physical  and  mental  nutriment  to  their  children,  and  these 
saddened  under  the  cloud  of  misfortune;  manor-houses, 
homesteads,  plantations  and  farms,  hitherto  representing 
annual  wealth  and  comfort,  put  under  the  hammer  for  taxes, 
and  often  finding  no  purchaser  at  all.  Then,  too,  first  ap- 
peared the  "monster  of  monsters,"  unknown  during  all  the 
times  of  slavery,  unheard  of  throughout  the  four  years  of 
war,  when  women  and  children  were  defenceless — and 
needed  no  defenders — on  large  plantations  and  remote  farms. 


98  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

And  following  in  his  wake,  as  righteous  avenger,  when  courts 
were  silent,  strode  the  lyncher,  hitherto  a  stranger  to  the 
land.  But  in  sharp  contrast  with  all  this,  was  the  roar  of 
drunken  laughter,  and  ribald  song  from  Columbia,  and  from 
almost  every  cross-roads,  as  shameless  profligates,  male  and 
female,  made  merry  on  the  proceeds  of  stolen  taxes  and 
bonds.  Well  might  men  find  natural  sleep  impossible,  when 
the  haunting  ghost  of  the  past  and  the  dreaded  spectre  of  the 
future  fevered  their  dreams. 

The  unspeakably  horrible  crime  of  assaults  and  attempted 
assaults  by  negroes  upon  women  of  the  other  race  and  the 
punishment  of  lynching  for  such  outrages,  are,  as  stated 
above,  the  direct,  legitimate  offspring  of  Reconstruction — 
did  not  exist  before  that  era,  mother  of  woes  unnumbered. 
As,  therefore,  this  ill-begotten  monstrosity  is  necessarily  ger- 
mane to  the  contents  of  this  book,  it  would  seem  improper  to 
shirk  discussing  it  here  in  view  of  the  present  importance  of 
the  subject,  however  loathsome  it  may  be. 

And  first  of  lynching.  It  goes  without  saying  that  it  is 
repulsive  to  all  civilized  men  and  a  great  injury  to  any  com- 
munity, both  because  of  the  tendency  it  has  to  create  general 
disrespect  for  law,  and  because  of  the  discredit  to  the  law- 
abiding  reputation  of  the  people.  It  is  true  that  lynching 
for  comparatively  small  crimes,  such  as  horse-stealing,  has 
been  justified  by  prominent  writers  from  the  northern  section 
of  our  country — for  instance,  by  a  noted  author,  an  honored 
graduate  of  Harvard,  and  by  another  of  world-wide  reputa- 
tion from  the  same  alma  mater.  But  I  am  not  here  as  its 
advocate  as  a  normal  remedy,  and  if  I  were,  my  sentiments 
would  not  be  in  accord  with  those  of  the  community.  Like 
war  (which  is  in  fact  lynching  on  the  most  extensive  scale, 
where  the  innocent  suffer  equally  with  the  guilty),  it  is  some- 
times justifiable  as  a  defensive  measure  to  prevent  worse 
evils,  but  it  is  always  abnormal.  But  the  suppression  of 
lynching  at  the  South  is  an  easy  matter  provided  the  proper 
remedy  is  applied — otherwise  impossible.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary to  remove  the  worst  cause,  and  it  will  cease  to  exist. 
That  cause  is  the  unspeakable  crime  above  referred  to.  Erad- 
icate that,  and  lynching  will  not  be  tolerated  by  any  civilized 


99 

community.  But  as  long  as  that  monster  is  permitted  to 
roam  at  large,  so  long  will  lynching  continue  and  increase, 
and  those  who  condemn  it  in  most  unmeasured  terms  would 
probably  find  themselves  among  the  first  to  inflict  the  punish- 
ment, if  the  provocation  came  in  their  own  homes.  How, 
then,  can  the  crime,  the  cause  of  lynching,  be  stamped  out? 

To  assume  that  the  nature  of  the  negro  is  virtually  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Aryan,  and,  therefore,  that  the  laws  ade- 
quate to  govern  the  one  race  are  necessarily  fitted  for  the 
other,  is  a  radical  fallacy.  Good  order  in  both  races  will 
never  be  preserved,  unless  this  is  recognized  as  a  fallacy.  In 
some  respects  the  negro's  nature  is  essentially  and  unalter- 
ably different  from  that  of  the  Aryan,  but  in  no  other  respect 
so  radically  different  as  in  his  physical  and  moral  constitu- 
tion in  regard  to  sexual  lust.  This  feeling  in  the  negro  is  a 
purely  brutal  instinct,  without  any  admixture  whatever  of 
sentiment  and  without  any  inherent  sense  of  the  propriety  of 
self-control.  With  the  Aryan  we  know  it  is  entirely  different, 
however  great  may  be  the  individual  variations  in  refinement. 
The  tendency  to  commit  the  crime  referred  to  is,  therefore, 
perfectly  normal  in  the  negro — it  is  abnormal  in  the  Aryan. 
I  doubt  if  the  negro  could  be  convinced  that  this  crime  is 
among  the  mal  in  se;  but  he  can  be  controlled  equally  well 
by  proving  that  it  is  among  the  mala  prohibita,  for  which  the 
death  penalty  will  be  dealt  out. 

But  how  can  the  crime  be  eradicated,  you  ask,  if  inherent 
in  the  negro  nature?  The  crime  is  the  product  of  Recon- 
struction— did  not  exist  at  all  under  the  slavery  regime.  It 
has  been  kept  alive  by  agitating  ideas  of  social  equality,  and 
by  the  harping  on  the  enormity  of  lynching,  which  the 
negroes  interpret  (not  unnaturally)  as  a  crime  and  the  cause 
a  peccadillo.  If  this  pernicious  nonsense  could  be  stopped, 
the  crime  would  practically  cease,  but  it  cannot  be  stopped, 
and,  therefore,  some  other  remedy  must  be  found. 

The  remedy  consists  in  the  framing  of  proper  laws  to  meet 
the  case.  These  (because  of  the  constitutional  amendments) 
will  have  to  be  equally  applicable  to  both  races,  but  this 
would  be  no  hardship  on  a  white  man,  who  had  un-raced 
himself  by  the  crime.  The  criminal  caught  in  flagrante 


100  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

delicto  will  always — in  spite  of  written,  and  in  conformity 
with  unwritten,  law)  be  summarily  shot  down  by  the  rela- 
tives of  the  injured  woman;  but  a  white  man  also  will  be 
dealt  with  in  the  same  way  for  flagrant  seduction.  But 
where  the  criminal  escapes  from  the  scene  of  the  outrage,  he 
should  swiftly  and  surely  be  hunted  down  and  captured  by 
the  sheriff  and  his  posse  (composed  of  all  available  white 
men).  He  should  then  be  tried  at  once,  if  possible,  but  in 
any  case  within  two  days.  The  rulings  of  the  presiding 
judge  should  be  final — not  subject  to  appeal  to  a  higher  court. 
If  convicted,  the  felon  ought  to  be  executed  on  the  day  on 
which  the  verdict  is  rendered.  The  death  penalty  should 
apply  to  assaults,  and  attempted  assaults,  and,  of  course,  to 
accessories  before  the  fact.  Accessories  after  the  fact  should 
invariably  be  punished  by  long-term  sentences  of  imprison- 
ment, not  subject  to  pardon  by  the  governor.  The  evidence 
of  the  injured  woman  ought  to  be  taken  with  all  persons  not 
concerned  excluded  from  the  court-room,  and  not  subject  to 
cross-examination ;  or,  at  the  discretion  of  the  judge,  by  affi- 
davit. As  some  of  these  provisions  would  be  in  conflict  with 
the  existing  course  of  legal  procedure,  the  latter  would  have 
to  be  altered  to  conform  to  the  necessities  of  these  cases — by 
constitutional  amendments,  if  necessary.  The  details  will 
probably  not  be  found  hard  to  arrange.  The  essentials  are: 
sure  and  swift  capture,  trial,  and  death  for  the  guilty.  Delay 
robs  the  law  of  its  efficacy,  and  after  a  few  weeks  the  criminal 
and  the  rest  of  his  race  regard  him  as  a  saint  destined  for 
heaven,  which  with  them  is  a  powerful  incentive  to  future 
crime.  It  is  full  time  to  frame  such  laws — otherwise  the 
innocent  will  often  suffer  with  the  guilty.  Remember  how  it 
was  in  New  England  in  dealing  with  the  Indian  problem — 
the  remedy  was  extermination  of  the  entire  race,  without 
regard  to  sex  or  age,  innocence  or  guilt,  and  this  programme 
was  inexorably  carried  out. 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  101 


CHAPTER  FIFTH 

HAMPTON  NOMINATED  AND  ELECTED  GOVERNOR 

Help  thyself  and  God  will  help  thee. 

— George  Herbert. 

In  South  Carolina  from  1872  to  1874,  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  "Robber-Governor"  Moses,  had  been  a  peace  such 
as  that  of  Warsaw ;  but  not  so  in  Louisiana.  There  the  "Con- 
servatives" had  united  with  a  faction  from  the  Radical 
(Regular  Republican)  party  under  the  banner  of  "Reform," 
and  had  prevailed  over  their  opponents.  But  the  Washing- 
ton administration  had  openly  supported  the  defeated  party. 
At  length  the  State  House  was  seized  and  a  file  of  Federal 
troops  sent  to  break  into  a  session  of  the  Legislature  and 
remove  at  the  bayonet's  point  the  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple. No  sooner  was  this  news  flashed  over  the  wires  to  every 
city,  town,  and  hamlet  in  the  North,  than  a  wave  of  indignant 
popular  protest  surged  from  Maine  to  Texas.  The  news- 
papers of  the  North — and  among  the  loudest  were  some  of 
the  oldest  and  strongest  Republican  journals — burst  into  a 
chorus  of  condemnation.  But  the  people  needed  not  their 
teaching ;  they  had  heard  the  tramp  of  armed  men  in  a  legis- 
lative assemblage,  and  by  their  Anglo-Saxon  instincts  knew 
what  that  meant.  At  the  November  elections  in  1874  they 
flocked  to  the  polls  and  recorded  there  a  scathing  verdict. 
It  is  true  that  the  corruption,  which  came  to  light  in  admin- 
istrative circles,  and  among  friends  close  to  the  President — 
the  whiskey  ring,  Indian  agent  frauds,  and  others — contrib- 
uted to  this  adverse  public  feeling,  but  the  chief  momentum 
was  derived  from  the  Louisiana  affair.  When  citizens  opened 
their  morning  paper  the  day  after  the  elections  they  looked 
aghast  at  the  returns  and  exclaimed  to  one  another,  "Is  it  pos- 
sible?" A  land-slide  due  chiefly  to  the  above  outrages  had 
occurred  such  as  that  generation  had  never  before  witnessed. 
The  House  of  Representatives  elected  in  1872  had  been  two- 
thirds  in  support  of  the  administration,  but  in  a  day  this  had 
been  changed  and  the  House  elected  in  1874  had  become 


102  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

equally  strong  in  opposition.  People  everywhere  took  heart 
at  the  news.  Of  course  the  change  in  the  popular  will  would 
be  reflected  much  more  slowly  in  the  Senate  than  in  the 
House  and  the  Executive  would  remain  unchanged  for  two 
years  more,  but,  still,  it  was  recognized  as  the  handwriting  on 
the  wall.  It  required  a  mighty  shaft  from  a  search-light  to 
penetrate  into  the  gloom  in  South  Carolina,  but  still  the 
f arseeing  ones  perceived  in  the  air  the  germs  of  the  longed  for 
revolution  of  1876.  And  the  Governor-elect,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, of  trained  and  active  intellect,  could  not  fail  also  to 
see  them.  The  Radical  party  at  the  North  would  have  too 
heavy  a  load,  however  strong  its  back,  with  carrying  its 
own  home-burdens,  and  would  soon  kick  against  the  imposi- 
tion of  the  infamies  of  South  Carolina.  The  year  1876  would 
be  the  Presidential  election,  a  close  one  certainly — probably 
a  life  and  death  struggle.  It  would  not  do  to  furnish  much 
fresh  ammunition  to  the  enemy ;  they  had  too  much  already. 
Then  there  was  trouble  nearer  home.  The  Governor  had  been 
elected  against  "Reform"  opposition,  as  a  Radical  (Regular 
Republican),  with  State  officers  and  Legislature  of  this 
brand,  and  no  more  profligate  body  (himself  excepted)  had 
come  into  power  during  Reconstruction.  Nor  was  this 
even  the  worst,  viewed  from  a  purely  political  standpoint. 
Negro  supremacy  had  by  this  time  progressed,  in  its  inevi- 
table evolution,  to  the  critical  point  where  the  negro  leaders 
of  pure,  or  nearly  pure  blood,  were  demanding  exclusive  rule 
for  themselves.  They  had  advanced  to  the  position  of  being 
willing,  that  the  white  carpet-baggers  should  continue  to 
cooperate  with  them  for  the  present,  but  thought  that  they 
ought  to  do  so  as  camp-followers,  or  petty  subalterns,  no 
longer  as  leaders.  As  the  negroes  held  a  majority  of  twenty 
thousand  votes,  and  as  they  now  had  learned  from  the  white 
carpet-baggers  the  forms  and  tricks  of  stealing  under  the 
guise  of  law,  why  should  they  any  longer  concede  to  them  the 
lion's  share  of  the  spoils?  The  sentiment  was  "Africa  for 
the  Africans,"  in  a  great  measure  kept  tacit  as  yet,  but  it 
would  have  broken  into  a  barbaric  roar  that  would  have 
eventually  driven  "Conservatives"  and  "Carpet-baggers" 
alike  from  the  State,  if  not  effectually  quenched  by  such  a 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  103 

movement  as  that  of  Hampton's  in  1876.  The  Governor-elect 
acknowledges  now  with  commendable  candor  all  this,  though 
he  did  not  see  it  then ;  but  what  he  could  not  fail  at  that  time 
to  perceive  was  the  political  danger  from  this  cause  to  all 
within  the  Republican  party  in  South  Carolina  who,  like 
himself,  had  any  regard  for  decency.  Moreover  he  had  plenty 
of  white  enemies,  secret  ones,  within  his  own  camp.  There- 
fore, both  from  national  and  local  causes,  there  was  foul 
weather  ahead,  breakers  perhaps.  The  ship  must  be  put 
about  on  a  new  course.  But  how  do  it  with  such  a  drunken, 
dissolute,  mutinous,  ineffective  crew?  And  then,  too,  the 
prisoners  confined  below.  Will  they  not  break  loose  and  re- 
capture the  ship?  The  captain  could  not  but  be  very  anxious. 
Might  he  perhaps  venture  as  a  last  resort,  to  unmanacle  some 
of  the  prisoners  below,  trust  them  in  a  measure,  and  by  them 
replace  the  worst  of  his  own  crew?  It  was  surely  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

The  Governor  delivered  his  inaugural.  It  was  a  document 
recommending,  nay  urging,  some  reforms  of  immediate  neces- 
sity, and  its  tone  was  in  the  direction  of  more.  By  the  Legis- 
lature (of  which  he  said  he  felt  no  distrust)  it  was  received 
either  stolidly,  with  incredulity,  merrily,  or  angrily,  as  the 
mood  of  the  hearer  might  be.  With  the  "Conservatives"  it 
made  not  much  impression  of  any  kind,  for  they  had  got  to 
regarding  such  sentiments  as  "chestnuts."  The  newspapers 
all  praised  the  tone  and  expressed  intentions  of  the  Governor. 
Some  of  them  went  further  than  this  and  (read  between  the 
lines)  indicated  more  than  mere  Platonic  affection.  Some- 
thing was  in  the  air. 

It  became  quite  evident  at  the  very  commencement  of  the 
session,  that  the  Governor  could  accomplish  no  important 
reforms  with  that  Legislature.  The  best  that  he  could  do  was 
to  veto  its  most  outrageous  Acts,  and  this  he  did  to  the 
extent  of  over  twenty  during  his  term.  But  this  was  not 
reform  at  all.  Yet  it  was  not  his  fault  that  he  could  not 
carry  out  his  announced  programme,  and  this  the  news- 
papers and  the  public  freely  admitted.  Meantime,  as  the 
months  passed  on,  he  put  himself  more  and  more  in  touch 


104 

with  the  public  (Conservatives)  by  eloquent  speeches  and  let- 
ters as  well  on  literary  and  educational,  as  on  political  sub- 
jects. The  years  1875  and  1876  were  the  occasion  of  many 
centennial  celebrations,  and  reunions,  and  in  these  functions 
he  participated  gracefully  and  tactfully,  not  endeavoring  to 
thrust  himself  into  undue  prominence. 

In  December,  1875,  occurred  an  event  that  had  the  effect 
of  eventually  deciding  the  lines  of  the  struggle  of  1876.  In 
the  temporary  absence  of  the  Governor  for  a  day  from  Colum- 
bia, the  "Africa  for  the  Africans"  faction  in  the  Legislature 
convened  a  caucus  sworn  to  vote  that  day  for  its  nominees 
for  judgeships  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  State.  The  result 
was  the  election  of  Whipper,  a  scandalously  corrupt,  profli- 
gate, and  intellectually  incompetent  negro  "carpet-bagger," 
and  Moses,  the  ex-"robber-governor."  The  outrage  was  such 
a  flagrant  one  that  it  stood  out  prominently  from  the  mass 
of  corruption  surrounding  it,  and  a  howl  of  "shame!"  went 
up  not  merely  from  all  decent  people  in  the  State,  but  also 
from  the  Northern  press.  The  Governor  was  placed  in  an 
awkward  dilemma.  He,  of  course,  was  without  veto  power  in 
an  election,  and  this  one  had  been  regular  in  form.  But  if 
these  so-called  judges  were  installed  in  office  it  would  prove 
him  either  a  nonentity  in  the  role  of  "reform,"  or  worse.  In- 
deed, it  would  be  ridiculous.  He  could  not,  according  to  law, 
refuse  to  sign  their  commissions,  but  to  sign  them  would 
•seem  to  make  himself,  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  particeps 
criminis.  So  he  refused  to  sign  their  commissions,  and,  on 
their  vaporings  about  taking  possession  of  their  offices  by 
force,  arranged  to  prevent  them  by  force,  and  they  had  to 
submit.  The  Conservatives  gave  him  great  credit  for  this 
bold  act,  and  it  greatly  increased  their  tendency  to  gravitate 
toward  him.  But  it  made  him  bitter  enemies  within  his  own 
party,  some  of  whom  stabbed  him  in  the  back  at  a  very  critical 
period  of  the  campaign  of  1876.  His  act  was  certainly  the 
strongest  possible  practical  declaration  that  a  negro  majority 
ought  not  necessarily  to  rule.  He  was  also  denounced  in 
unmeasured  terms  for  party  disloyalty,  "for  breaking  up  the 
party,"  by  some  Republican  journals  at  the  North,  among 
others  by  the  National  Republican,  the  administration  organ 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  105 

at  Washington,  which  characterized  his  conduct  as  "political 
turpitude/'  and  him  as  "an  apostate,"  and  Oliver  P.  Morton 
spoke  in  the  same  strain.  This  was  another  rock  ahead  for 
the  Governor,  for  to  possess  the  ear  of  Washington  was 
indispensable  to  his  continued  existence  as  leader  of  the 
Radical  party  in  the  State.  Then,  too,  it  weakened  him, 
because  demonstrating  his  lack  of  power  at  the  time  with 
his  own  Legislature,  and  thus  lessened  his  value  to  the 
Conservatives,  as  a  possible  ally,  and  diminished  the  chances 
of  that  "deal"  being  accomplished;  but  it  was  being  pushed 
all  the  while. 

In  January,  1876,  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  met  at  Columbia  and  issued  an  address  to  the 
party  in  the  State  urging  organization,  the  first  attempted 
for  several  years.  In  it  Chamberlain  was,  in  general  terms, 
commended  for  his  course. 

In  April  of  this  year  the  Republican  State  Convention  met 
in  Columbia  to  choose  delegates  to  the  Republican  National 
Convention  to  meet  at  Cincinnati  in  June  to  make  Presiden- 
tial nominations.  Mr.  Chamberlain  headed  this  delegation, 
though  he  had  a  hard  struggle  to  be  elected  at  all,  and  nar- 
rowly escaped  personal  violence.  At  Cincinnati  was  confided 
to  him  that  part  of  the  platform  dealing  with  Southern 
affairs,  and  he  wrote  the  plank  which,  wjiile  dealing  in  many 
generalities,  emphasized  the  duty  of  the  Executive,  and  Con- 
gress to  enforce  the  equal  poltical  and  other  rights  of  the 
negro.  He  vigorously  stumped  the  State  during  the  summer 
for  the  Hayes  electors,  and  had  presumably  got  again  into 
the  good  graces  of  the  Northern  faction. 

Before  the  spring  of  1876  the  Reform  "boom,"  with  Mr. 
Chamberlain  at  its  head  as  candidate  for  Governor,  was 
tacitly  launched.  The  newspapers,  which  before  that  had 
been  credited  writh  more  than  Platonic  affection,  now  came 
out  openly  and  broke  into  the  cry  that  indicates  that  the 
game  is  afoot.  The  whole  of  the  programme  was  not  made 
public,  but  was  an  open  secret.  The  "Conservatives"  were  to 
make  no  nomination  for  Governor;  it  would  be  arranged, 
that  they  should  have  their  man  for  lieutenant-governor,  with 
a  fair  number  of  State  officers,  and  enough  representatives  in 


106  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  Legislature  to  make  a  good  working  majority  in  connec- 
tion with  the  "Reform"  Republicans.  It  was  not  thought 
that  the  Radical  Republicans  would  venture  to  set  up  any 
ticket  in  opposition,  and,  if  they  tried  it,  that  they  would 
easily  be  lashed  into  their  place,  with  troops,  if  advisable, 
for  the  Governor  would  have  the  ear  of  Washington.  He 
could  obtain  anything  asked,  it  was  said,  for  was  he  not  to 
deliver  the  coveted  prize,  the  electoral  vote  for  Hayes?  Not 
that  the  electoral  vote  formed  a  part  of  the  bargain  between 
"Conservatives"  and  Republican  "Reformers";  the  Demo- 
crats would  nominate  Tilden  electors,  and  could  vote  for 
them,  if  they  liked,  and  they  would  do  so,  but  there  naturally 
would  be  no  enthusiasm  on  their  part,  if  this  "Reform"  move- 
ment took  place,  and  the  Hayes  electors  would  have  prac- 
tically a  "walk  over."  Besides  they  controlled  the  "count- 
ing." 

In  December  an  election  would  have  to  take  place  in  the 
Legislature  for  a  United  States  Senator  for  a  full  term  of  six 
years,  and  by  the  agreement  the  Governor  would  be  elected  to 
that  position,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  becoming  Governor. 
Thus  to  some  extent,  the  King  would  enjoy  his  own  again. 
As  Senator,  the  former  Governor  would  have  a  pleasant  posi- 
tion among  congenial  surroundings  in  lieu  of  the  opposite 
conditions  to  which  now  he  was  subjected,  and  could  then 
claim  from  Washington  the  reward  to  which,  by  unwritten 
political  law,  he  would  be  entitled  as  payment  for  the  delivery 
of  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State. 

The  advantages  of  this  arrangement  for  the  Governor  were 
evident.  Without  any  risk  at  all  of  failure,  he  would  secure 
his  end.  As  for  the  "Conservatives"  they  would  be  effecting 
a  great  temporary  amelioration  of  existing  conditions  for  the 
State,  with  the  prospect,  it  was  alleged,  from  this  vantage- 
ground,  of  totally  breaking  up  the  Radical  party  at  the  next 
election,  thus  attaining  the  goal  which  they  had  had  un- 
swervingly in  view  all  along,  the  destruction  of  negro 
supremacy.  By  this  arrangement  there  could  be  no  "count- 
ing out,"  for  the  Governor  had  entire  control  of  the  election 
machinery,  and  Washington  would  be  behind  him  in  support ; 
there  could  be  no  miscarriage.  It  all  appealed  very  strongly 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  107 

to  the  "Conservative"  politicians,  for  thus  they  would  obtain 
offices.  It  was  attractive  to  tax-payers  for  obvious  reasons. 
It  suited  the  taste  of  the  timid,  for  it  called  for  no  risk  or 
exertion.  But  the  rank  and  file,  who  wanted  no  offices,  knew 
little  of  politics  and  its  methods,  and  were  in  the  habit  of 
transacting  their  private  business  in  a  straightforward, 
manly  manner,  were  very  lukewarm,  or  averse  to  going  into 
it,  especially  as  it  seemed  to  them  like  virtually  deserting 
their  friends  at  the  North  at  a  critical  juncture,  and  this  was 
repugnant  to  their  sense  of  honor.  In  the  counties  having 
negro  majorities  the  "deal,"  however,  was  virtually  accepted, 
however  reluctantly,  as  an  accomplished  fact  by  the  majority 
of  persons.  But  it  was  not  liked  at  all  in  the  upper  counties 
having  white  majorities.  There  was,  consequently,  skirmish- 
ing between  those  entertaining  different  views.  The  sup- 
porters of  the  Chamberlain  "Reform"  movement  endeavored 
to  have  the  meeting  of  the  "Conservative"  (Democratic) 
State  Convention  for  nominations  postponed  until  the  Re- 
publican Convention  met,  and  had  made  nominations,  but 
were  outnumbered.  The  Convention  met  at  Columbia  on 
August  15,  the  "Straigh touts"  developed  unexpected  strength, 
Hampton  was  nominated  for  Governor  with  a  complete  Con- 
serative  State  ticket,  and  Presidential  electors  thoroughly 
representing  the  worth,  intelligence,  and  property  of  the 
community. 

The  nomination  of  Hampton  was  made  on  the  morning  of 
August  16,  by  General  M.  C.  Butler  and  seconded  by  Mr. 
Aldrich.  Before  more  was  done,  General  Hampton  took  the 
floor  for  a  few  minutes.  He  made  some  remarks  upon  the 
situation,  reminded  the  meeting  that  once  before,  shortly 
after  the  war,  he  had  been  asked  to  run  for  Governor,  and  had 
refused  to  do  so,  because  he  then  thought  that  he  could  serve 
the  interests  of  the  people  best  in  a  private  capacity.  He  con- 
cluded in  these  characteristic  words : 

"There  are  men  in  the  State  in  whose  eyes  I  possess  dis- 
qualifications of  which  I  cannot  dispossess  myself,  and  would 
not  if  I  could.  I  mean  my  army  record.  That  record  is  the 
record  of  sixty  thousand  Confederate  soldiers  of  this  State, 
and  if  I  were  to  say  that  I  am  ashamed  of  it,  I  would  be 


108 

saying  that  which  is  not  true.  All  the  offices  in  the  world 
might  perish  before  I  would  say  so.  I  beg  you,  gentlemen, 
to  consider  these  things  carefully  before  you  decide  upon 
your  action.  Do  not  let  any  partiality,  or  prejudice  lead  you 
into  hasty  action.  Consider  only  what  is  good  for  our  State, 
and  the  Democratic  party.  I  shall  retire  and  leave  you  to 
consider  the  question  in  the  light  of  the  most  good  for  the 
party.  If,  upon  a  full  consideration,  you  think  you  can  select 
some  one  as  earnest  and  as  true  as  myself — and  I  am  sure 
that  there  are  thousands  of  them  in  the  State — I  pledge  my- 
self to  give  all  my  time,  all  my  efforts,  and  all  that  I  am 
worth,  to  ensure  his  success,  and  I  shall  do  so  with  a  lighter 
heart  than  I  would  if  you  select  me. 

"In  conclusion,  I  call  upon  you  to  remember  that  I  have 
not  advised,  nor  counseled  you  in  this  matter.  I  have  simply 
told  you,  honestly  and  frankly,  my  opinion,  and  come  weal 
or  woe,  I  promise  that  I  shall  stand  by  you  to  the  last." 

The  General  then  withdrew,  and  left  the  Convention  to  con- 
sider the  question.  It  went  into  secret  session,  excluding 
newspaper  reporters.  Three  simply  complimentary  nomina- 
tions were  made,  but  in  each  case  the  gentleman  named  at 
once  arose  and  declined  to  be  voted  for,  on  the  ground  that 
he  was  for  Hampton  and  no  one  else.  In  a  short  time,  by  a 
viva  voce  vote,  Hampton  was  unanimously  nominated.  W. 
D.  Simpson  was  nominated  for  Lieutenant-Governor,  and 
General  James  Conner,  of  Charleston,  for  Attorney-General, 
and  for  the  other  positions  men  of  similar  standing. 

At  this  time  Hampton  was  in  his  fifty-eighth  year,  as 
vigorous  in  body  and  mind  as  ever,  and  as  impressive  and 
attractive  in  person. 

No  sooner  was  the  news  known,  than  the  wildest  en- 
thusiasm took  the  place  of  hesitancy  or  doubt.  If  any  were 
dissatisfied,  they  took  pains  to  conceal  their  feelings.  It  was 
as  if  a  blast  of  fresh  air  had  rushed  down  from  Hampton's 
mountain  home  among  the  Appalachians,  and  blown  to  sea 
the  malaria  of  the  swamps  and  the  fetid  air  of  the  coast 
towns.  The  name  of  Hampton  was  on  every  tongue,  joy  in 
all  hearts.  The  men  cheered,  the  women  cheered,  the  children 
cheered,  pet  dogs  were  taught  to  cheer  in  merry  barks  for 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  109 

Hampton.  Absolute  confidence  in  victory  had  come  to  them, 
and  determination  to  achieve  it  in  spite  of  everything.  By 
common  conviction  he  became  at  once  their  leader  for  life  or 
death,  such  as  he  had  been  formerly  to  the  men  in  Virginia. 
One  hundred  years  before,  in  her  dire  extremity,  the  State 
had  acclaimed  John  Rutledge  dictator,  and  now  again  by  pas- 
sionate plebiscite  she  set  up  another. 

Wade  Hampton  had  not  sought  the  position,  but  when  the 
"Straightout"  movement  was  decided  upon  the  leaders 
sought  him  out  and  placed  before  him  their  solemn  convic- 
tion, that  he,  and  he  alone,  could  lead  to  victory.  His  opinion 
in  favor  of  a  "Straightout"  movement  had  been  given  during 
the  spring.  Ambition  is  never  absent  from  the  minds  of  most 
men,  and  no  doubt,  however  high  and  pure  the  ultimate  pur- 
pose, there  were  many  who  would  like  to  have  headed  the 
movement,  but,  in  view  of  the  momentous  issues  involved,  they 
instinctively  stood  aside,  only  asking  to  serve  under  this 
"born  leader  of  men."  In  all  the  political  efforts  of  conse- 
quence taking  place  within  the  previous  ten  years,  Hampton 
had  been  prominent  with  wise  counsel,  but  not  playing  for 
vulgar  notoriety,  not  actuated  by  greed  for  office,  only  de- 
sirious  of  serving  the  best  interests  of  his  people.  The  masses 
outside  of  political  circles  knew  him  well  and  loved  him,  as 
the  Bayard  of  the  South,  the  hero  of  a  brilliant  and  pic- 
turesque career.  But  they  knew  him,  too,  as  a  leader  of  calm, 
cool,  unruffled  judgment,  of  iron  will,  of  quick  decision,  and 
instantaneous  execution;  but  never  rash,  never  foolhardy, 
always  counting  the  cost,  or  risk  of  each  soldier's  life; 
doing  nothing  from  selfish  ambition  for  sensational  fame,  but 
only  for  substantial  objects  well  worth  the  cost.  The  old 
soldiers  around  the  firesides  of  the  South  in  every  home  for 
the  last  ten  years  had  been  fond  of  relating  Hampton's 
exploits,  always  dwelling  on  the  fact  that,  however  desper- 
ate an  undertaking  might  seem  to  them  to  be  at  the  time,  it 
invariably  turned  out,  when  they  had  come  to  understand  it, 
prudent  and  well  considered,  as  well  as  brilliant  in  concep- 
tion ;  the  very  reverse  of  the  dare-devil  dash  of  a  hot-headed 
man.  And  they  explained  how  that  was  one  great  secret  of 
his  success,  for  with  his  stately  figure  in  front — and  there  it 


110  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

always  was — the  men  said  and  felt,  "It's  all  right!"  They 
would  point  out — those  who  had  been  there — how  many  a 
time,  he  easily  performed  by  the  inspiration  of  military 
genius  what  would  have  been  pronounced  by  every  man  in 
both  armies  absolutely  impossible  with  his  available  force. 
In  these  ways,  in  history  by  word  of  mouth  at  that  period 
generally  current,  the  people  had  learned  to  know  what  man- 
ner of  man  he  was,  to  love  him  and  to  trust  him  implicitly  in 
this  their  life  and  death  struggle.  In  1865,  under  the  John- 
son Reconstruction,  he  was,  against  his  will,  voted  for  as 
Governor,  and  probably  received  a  majority  of  the  votes. 

In  the  early  stages  of  Reconstruction  a  letter  was  written 
on  the  subject  by  General  Hampton  to  President  Andrew 
Johnson.  This  document,  never  so  far  published,  would  be  of 
great  interest  to  my  readers,  and  ought  to  be  by  publication 
made  accessible  to  the  entire  country.  I  have  deep  regret 
to  express  for  being  unable  to  reproduce  it  here  in  full.  I 
have  fruitlessly  made  every  effort  in  my  power  to  obtain  a 
copy  of  it.  The  original  is  believed  to  be  among  the  Andrew 
Johnson  papers  purchased  by  the  United  States  Government 
now  in  the  Library  of  Congress  at  Washington,  but  a  search 
kindly  made  there  by  the  officials  has  failed  so  far  to  bring  it 
to  light.  The  immense  mass  of  these  papers  is  as  yet  un- 
classified, and  it  could  not  be  found  at  present.  As  it  is, 
therefore,  impossible  to  give  to  the  reader  the  letter  in  full 
in  its  exact  words,  I  will  not  take  the  responsibility  upon 
myself  of  attempting  to  give  its  purport  further  than  to  say 
that  its  wisdom  has  been  proved  by  results.  It  is,  however, 
asking  too  much  of  any  one  possessing  a  heart  that  he  should 
refrain  from  any  reference  to  the  appeal  made  by  Hampton 
in  behalf  of  Jefferson  Davis.  Few  men,  indeed,  wrould,  under 
the  circumstances  then  existing,  have  ventured  to  commit 
themselves  so  unreservedly  in  writing  to  the  succor  of  Mr. 
Davis.  At  first  blush,  one  might  be  inclined  to  think  other- 
wise, so  totally  changed  are  present  conditions  from  those 
then  existing,  and  to  believe  that  he  himself  would  at  that 
time  have  been  equally  brave  and  faithful;  but  let  me 
remind  you  of  the  feeling  then  prevailing  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Davis,  for  otherwise  you  cannot  realize  the  situation.  Today 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  111 

he  is  regarded  by  all  moderately  well-informed  persons,  what- 
ever their  thoughts  may  have  formerly  been,  as  an  able,  up- 
right, high-minded,  humane,  refined  gentleman,  actuated  by 
conscientious  motives  throughout  his  career,  and  as  loving 
the  Union,  holding  it  paramount  to  everything,  save  only  his 
own  and  his  people's  conception  of  liberty.  But  such  was  not 
the  opinion  entertained  for  him  at  the  North  at  the  period 
of  which  we  are  speaking.  There  not  only  by  the  masses,  but 
by  the  great  majority  of  all,  every  crime  forbidden  by  the 
decalogue — and  more — were  ascribed  to  him;  he  was  calum- 
niated and  vilified  beyond  belief,  especially  by  non-com- 
batants. Any  connection  with  him  put  a  black  mark  against 
the  name  thus  associated.  As  to  the  South,  there  had  always 
been  during  the  war  an  opposition  to  his  administration, 
which,  while  ardently  devoted  to  the  cause,  criticized  very 
adversely  his  management,  though  not  questioning  his  good 
intentions.  After  final  defeat,  the  people,  broken-hearted  and 
impoverished,  too  frequently  found  in  him  a  scapegoat  for 
disasters,  which,  as  they  thought,  should  have  been  military 
successes.  Others  thought  of  him  not  at  all,  for  they  were 
absorbed  in  their  own  pressing  affairs,  and  with  railroad 
communication  interrupted,  and  mails  disorganized,  news 
reached  them  but  slowly.  It  was  not  until  it  was  generally 
realized  that  Miles  had  chained  Mr.  Davis  as  if  he  were  the 
vilest  of  convicted  felons,  had  lacerated  his  aged  limbs  with 
iron  shackles,  that  a  thrill  of  universal  horror,  and  a  pas- 
sionate heart-beat  of  sympathy  and  devotion  went  forth  from 
the  whole  Southern  people  to  the  martyr  crucified  in  their 
stead.  But  this  was  afterward.  Then,  too,  Hampton,  when 
about  to  urge  his  views  of  Reconstruction  upon  Johnson, 
might  well  have  hesitated  to  do  anything  which  could 
prejudice  his  cause,  by  coupling  with  it  an  appeal  for  justice 
to  Mr.  Davis,  who  would  be,  as  "born  in  the  purple,"  obnox- 
ious to  the  President's  socialistic  sentiment  and  political 
principles.  But  all  these  considerations  were  not  counted  as 
a  feather's  weight  by  Hampton;  they  were  drowned  in  the 
clank  of  the  chains.  As  fearlessly  and  generously  had  he 
often  on  the  field,  regardless  of  rank,  "bestrode"  some  poor 
unhorsed  fellow,  saving  a  life,  of  which  the  writer  furnishes 


112  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

one  of  many  examples.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  by  his  attitude 
at  this  time  toward  Mr.  Davis,  and  his  adherence  to  him  in 
his  extremity  after  the  fall  of  Richmond,  Hampton  earned 
the  enmity  of  the  anti-Lincoln  faction,  which  was  manifested 
against  him  throughout  all  the  "raven  days"  of  Reconstruc- 
tion. 

How  far  the  miscarriage  of  the  projected  "Reform"  move- 
ment was  due  to  the  wrangles  of  politicians  on  each  side,. 
"Conservative"  as  well  as  Republican,  over  the  distribution 
of  offices,  it  is  now  needless  to  inquire.  No  doubt  it  had  a 
certain  influence.  But  whatever  helped  along  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  "Straightout"  programme  must  be  hailed  as  a 
blessing,  whatever  its  origin,  for  the  time  had  come  and  with 
it  the  man.  In  proof  of  this  we  need  go  no  further  than  the 
words  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  himself : 

(Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1901.)  "If  the  canvass  of  1876 
had  resulted  in  the  success  of  the  Republican  party,  that 
party  could  not,  for  want  of  materials,  even  when  aided 
by  the  Democratic  minority,  have  given  pure,  or  competent 
administration.  The  vast  preponderance  of  ignorance  and 
incapacity  in  that  party,  aside  from  downright  dishonesty, 
made  it  impossible." 

All  the  Conservative  newspapers  of  the  State,  which  had 
been  supporting  the  "Reform"  boom,  turned  the  required 
somersault  as  soon  as  the  telegram  announcing  Hampton's 
nomination  reached  them,  and  hastened  to  tear  up  editorials 
written  for  the  next  day's  issue,  and  substitute  others  proving 
to  their  own  satisfaction,  that  they  had  always  favored  the 
"Straightout"  movement.  There  were  no  Radical  journals 
in  the  State — what  need  when  subscribers  were  unable  to 
read? — except  one  maintained  feebly  at  Columbia,  as  an 
official  organ.  The  newspapers,  particularly  The  (Charles- 
ton) News  and  Courier,  vigorously  called  upon  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain, if  a  sincere  reformer,  to  support  the  Hampton  ticket, 
as  the  only  choice  would  now  be  between  it  and  the  men 
already  denounced  as  thieves  and  rascals;  but  he  did  not 
accept  the  suggestion,  which  he  might  well  have  done. 

What  was  the  situation,  and  what  the  programme  of  the 
Hampton  party? 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  113 

A  word  about  the  programme,  first.  Let  us  understand 
that  it  was  a  movement  practically  unanimous  on  the  part 
of  the  white  citizens — who  constituted  the  mental  and  moral 
worth,  as  well  as  the  property-representative  in  the  State — to 
put  an  end  to  unendurable  miseries  by  reestablishing  law 
and  liberty  subverted  under  color  of  the  Reconstruction  Acts 
passed  by  a  body  at  Washington  in  which  the  community 
was  without  representation.  It  was  in  no  sense  a  "one  man" 
movement,  but  a  universal  uprising  of  the  people  to  reinstate 
on  its  throne  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land.  To  effect  this, 
under  the  extraordinary  conditions  then  existing,  it  was 
necessary  to  confide  unlimited  power  to  Hampton  and  his 
associates,  just  as  must  be  done  to  its  general  by  an  army 
in  the  field  in  time  of  war,  but  this  power  was  conferred  by 
a  virtual  plebiscite,  not  grasped  by  the  strong  arm  of  a  man. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  referring  to  Cromwell's  usurpations, 
says  (Oliver  Cromwell,  page  54)  :  "In  a  great  crisis  it  may 
be  necessary  to  overturn  Constitutions,  and  disregard  stat- 
utes, just  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  establish  a  vigilance  com- 
mittee, or  take  refuge  in  lynch  law."  This  implies  that  the 
"one  man"  is  to  judge  when  such  a  crisis  exists,  and  then 
"overturn  Constitutions  and  disregard  statutes."  If  this  be 
correct  doctrine,  then  it  follows  necessarily,  that  all  repre- 
sentative government  is  an  absolute  fallacy.  It  has,  however, 
always  been  the  usurper's  plea  in  all  ages,  and  would  have 
been  equally  as  pertinent  to  Charles  as  to  Cromwell.  A 
vigilance  committee  or  lynch  law  (whether  right  or  wrong) 
rests  on  entirely  different  foundation,  the  will  of  the  people, 
which  is  the  exact  opposite  of  the  "one  man  power."  But 
however  all  this  may  be,  the  movement  of  1876  was  certainly 
not  a  "one  man"  movement,  but  of  the  people.  Nor  was  it 
"to  overturn  Constitutions  and  disregard  statutes,"  but  to 
reestablish  their  authority.  And  now  to  return  to  the  situa- 
tion. 

Nobody  could  know,  except  by  approximate  estimate,  what 
was  the  real  majority  in  the  State  possessed  by  the  negroes. 
A  census  had  been  prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  but  it  had 
never  been  taken,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  it  might  prove 
a  slight  impediment  to  fraud  at  elections.  A  reasonable 


114  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

"guess"  was  twenty  thousand  negro  majority;  in  other 
words,  ten  thousand  negro  votes  obtained  by  the  Conserva- 
tives would  obliterate  the  negro  majority.  The  only  whites 
who  would  vote  against  Hampton  would  be  "carpet-baggers" 
and  their  retainers,  more  than  counterbalanced  in  numbers 
by  Republican  immigrants,  settled  in  the  State  during  the 
preceding  decade  and  engaged  in  business,  who,  confronted 
by  facts  more  important  than  previous  theories  and  look- 
ing to  their  own  moneyed  interests,  would  vote  the  Con- 
servative State  ticket,  whatever  they  might  do  about  the 
Presidential  polls.  General  Hampton  had  since  1868  enter- 
tained strongly  the  belief  that  the  votes  of  negroes  could  be 
largely  influenced  in  the  direction  of  decent  government  by 
legitimate  and  kindly  measures,  and  in  this  he  proved  entirely 
right.  The  negroes  of  that  date,  still  under  the  previous 
humanizing  influences  of  intimate  association  with  white 
masters,  had  a  strong  tendency  to  gravitate  back  toward 
them,  and  during  the  darkest  days  of  Reconstruction  would 
come  for  succor  in  illness,  and  distress.  On  the  contrary,  in 
spite  of  the  political  propaganda  to  which  they  were  sub- 
jected, they  entertained  a  profoundly  aristocratic  contempt 
for  "carpet-baggers"  as  "white  trash."  No  time  was  lost, 
therefore,  after  his  nomination  in  the  establishment  of  Demo- 
cratic Negro  Campaign  Clubs  throughout  the  State,  and  they 
soon  numbered  8,000  members.  The  whites,  of  course,  could 
be  counted  upon  to  a  man  to  vote  the  "Conservative"  ticket, 
but  an  energetic  canvass  was  put  under  way  to  keep  up 
enthusiasm  to  the  boiling  point,  and  also  to  obtain  every 
negro  vote  possible — for  that  counted  two,  as  it  was  one 
taken  from  the  Radicals,  and  contributed  to  the  Conserva- 
tives— and,  next  best,  to  induce  Radical  voters  to  remain 
away  from  the  polls.  There  were  many  ways  of  effecting  this 
in  addition  to  mere  kindly  persuasion,  such  as  discriminating 
'in  employment.  For  a  Radical  negro  was  presumably  a  dis- 
honest unreliable  fellow,  if  not  an  outright  thief,  and  a  Dem- 
ocratic negro  supposedly  the  reverse,  and  selection  on  these 
lines  would  seem  but  natural  and  admissible  to  an  employer. 
Then,  physical  force,  the  show  of  it,  is  an  effective  influence 
with  all  mankind,  which  is  the  reason  underlying  political 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  115 

meetings,  torch-light  processions,  and  other  similar  campaign 
methods  at  the  North,  and  elsewhere.  So  red-shirted  horse- 
men, and  rifle  clubs  peacefully  parading  became  the  order  of 
the  day  and  sometimes,  where  more  convenient,  by  night  too. 
That  these  should  be  armed  to  the  teeth  was  a  necessity  of 
the  times,  and  had  been  for  years  past,  but  unquestionably 
it  would  now  add  to  the  moral  effect  of  their  appearance. 
The  impression  produced  by  such  demonstrations  in  neigh- 
borhoods, where  the  negro  population  was  dense,  and  the 
white  very  sparse,  would  be  particularly  great,  if  ener- 
getically conducted,  and  might  sometimes,  on  timid  imagina- 
tions, create  vague  alarm,  but  this  need  not  prevent  lawful 
and  innocent  proceedings.  As  it  was  the  year  of  a  Presi- 
dential election,  and  as  the  Tilden  electors  would  be  supposed 
to  share  the  success  or  defeat  of  the  Hampton  party,  it  was 
natural  to  infer  that  help  would  come  energetically  from  the 
Democrats  at  the  North  to  carry  the  State,  but  this  did  not 
prove  so.  In  no  other  respects,  than  the  foregoing,  would 
the  election  programme  differ  from  the  usual  methods  prac- 
tised everywhere. 

It  has  been  so  repeatedly  charged  by  those  disappointed  at 
the  results  of  this  election,  that  it  was  carried  by  "fraud, 
intimidation  and  force"  (meaning  "unlawful  violence"),  that 
even  many  well-wishers  have  been  led,  by  the  reiteration  of 
the  charges,  reluctantly  to  believe  them,  or  to  ignore  the  dis- 
cussion on  the  ground  that  the  end  justified  the  means.  But 
it  is  full  time  that  this  error  should  be  corrected.  As  to 
fraud,  it  is  true  that  the  prostitution  of  the  principle  of  free 
suffrage  had  been  made  so  complete,  the  ignorance  and  cor- 
ruption of  the  negro  voters  had  been  so  flagrant  and  shame- 
less for  a  decade  past,  and  the  cheating  in  counting  votes  so 
patent — the  entire  thing  such  a  farce  and  tragedy  com- 
bined— that  it  could  not  but  bring  into  contempt  the  very 
name  of  voting.  It  cannot  be  wondered  at  that,  under  such 
circumstances,  many,  indignant  and  disgusted,  should,  under 
the  temptation  of  the  issues  involved,  be  carried  away  by  the 
sophistry  that  the  end  justifies  the  means,  and  imitate,  as  far 
as  able,  the  practises  of  their  adversaries.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Radicals  were  more  perfect  in  all  the  arts  of  fraud 


116  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

from  ten  years  of  incessant  practise;  they  were  lashed  into 
frantic  exertions  by  hourly  telegrams  from  their  friends  at 
the  North,  to  obtain  the  electoral  votes  at  any  cost,  and  they 
knew  that  their  political  lives  depended  on  this;  they  pos- 
sessed, through  the  Governor,  the  exclusive  right  to  appoint 
from  their  own  party  all  the  commissioners  and  managers 
of  election,  the  "Conservatives"  for  the  first  time  in  this 
election  being  allowed — by  arrangement  made  when  the  "Re- 
form" deal  was  expected  to  be  consummated — one,  but  only 
one,  of  the  three  inspectors  of  election,  and  all  the  other 
election  machinery  was  with  the  Radicals;  it  follows,  there- 
fore, that  the  Radicals  having  a  greater  experience  and  skill 
in  crooked  practises,  having  at  least  equal  incentives  to 
employ  them,  more  than  double  chances  to  do  so  undetected, 
there  must  have  been  polled  and  counted  vastly  more  fraudu- 
lent Radical  than  "Conservative"  votes;  consequently,  if  all 
fraudulent  votes  could  have  been  eliminated,  and  a  perfectly 
fair  count  had,  it  would  have  been  greatly  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Conservatives  and  thus  greatly  increased  their  majority. 
This  seems  absolutely  to  dispose  of  the  charge  that  the  "Con- 
servatives" carried  the  election  by  fraud. 

As  to  "intimidation"  by  the  Hampton  party,  the  only  kind 
practised — if  it  can  be  called  such — was  the  moral  influence 
exerted  by  the  means  already  described.  The  cases  of  actual 
"intimidation"  were  very  few,  and  were  very  much  more  than 
offset  by  a  hundred  times  more  outrages  perpetrated  on  negro 
Democrats  by  the  Radicals.  But  of  systematic  "intimida- 
tion," the  programme  pursued  by  the  Radical  leaders  was  full 
to  repletion.  By  the  United  States  Army  they  intimidated 
the  whites.  By  their  oath-bound  associations,  such  as  the 
"loyal  league,"  and  many  similar  ones,  they  produced  a  reign 
of  terror  among  the  negroes.  Their  churches  were  centres 
of  the  most  urgent  measures  to  keep  their  constituencies 
solid.  Every  means  imaginable  were  employed  that  gross 
superstition  could  furnish.  Oaths,  of  supposedly  fearful 
import  were  administered.  Negro  Democrats  were  ostra- 
cized and  the  women  were  sworn  not  to  cohabit  with  them. 
Nor  were  threats  of  shooting  them  down  by  Federal  troops 
unavailed  of  to  keep  waverers  in  the  traces.  It  is  probable, 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  117 

that  when  the  Hampton  government  was  installed,  and  quiet 
thus  restored,  the  negroes  felt  the  relief  even  more  markedly 
than  did  the  whites.  Two  wrongs  do  not  make  a  right  in 
morals,  but  the  above  facts  go  to  show  that  the  "intimida- 
tion" by  the  Radicals  was  far  greater  than  by  the  whites,  and 
that  consequently  the  total  absence  of  it  would  have  been  in 
favor  of  the  Conservatives  at  the  election,  and  that,  therefore, 
the  election  was  not  carried  by  "intimidation." 

As  to  "force,"  meaning  by  the  term  violence  due  to  physi- 
cal force,  the  charge  that  it  preponderated  on  the  part  of 
the  whites,  and  that  the  elections  were  won  by  this  means, 
is  equally  unfounded.  Not  that  it  is  meant,  that  the  applica- 
tion of  open  manly  physical  force  to  wipe  out  the  negro 
supremacy  would  not  have  been  perfectly  justifiable,  if  ever 
anywhere  in  the  world  a  revolution  was  justifiable,  but  that, 
in  point  of  fact,  it  was  not  used.  Every  vestige  of  the  State 
government  could  have  been  destroyed  at  any  time,  in  a 
moment,  and  bloodlessly,  too,  so  utterly  weak  and  rotten  was 
it.  As  Mr.  Chamberlain  wrote  at  the  time  to  Washington, 
"My  only  reliance  for  effective  physical  force  must  be  upon 
United  States  troops."  But  it  was  perfectly  understood  by 
the  "Conservatives"  that  physical  violence  on  their  part,  or 
anything  that  could  be  successfully  represented  as  such,  was 
just  what  the  Radical  party  ardently  desired,  and  then  they 
would  flood  the  State  with  troops  and  lettres  de  cachet,  and 
have  the  election  all  their  own  way,  paying  the  price  for  the 
aid  rendered  them  in  the  handing  over  of  the  electoral  vote. 
They  knew,  that  the  hands  of  the  whites  were  tied,  both  by 
sentiment  and  policy,  and  they  would  not  fight  the  United 
States  troops.  So  this  was  the  Radicals'  trump  card,  and  it 
would  have  been  folly  to  furnish  them  the  lead.  Without 
such  a  lead  from  the  Conservatives,  they  could  not  so  well 
play  the  strongest  card  of  this  their  trump  suit,  because  the 
North  presumably  would  condemn  it,  and  it  might  cause  a 
landslide  at  the  coming  elections,  like  that  of  1874,  produced 
by  the  use  of  similar  means  in  Louisiana.  In  fact,  so  skil- 
fully did  Hampton  play  his  side  of  the  game,  so  absolutely 
did  he  prevent  his  followers — though  subjected  to  provoca- 
tions which  it  was  almost  impossible  to  endure  unresented — 


118  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRTTCTION 

from  giving  the  Radicals  a  fair  pretext  for  using  troops  as 
unblushingly  as  they  desired,  that  they  never  were  able  to 
risk  doing  so  to  the  extent  they  intended,  during  the  entire 
campaign,  until  the  day  after  the  election,  too  late  to  have 
an  effect  on  Northern  votes,  it  is  true,  but  also,  thanks  to 
the  skill  of  Hampton,  and  the  implicit  obedience  of  his 
people,  too  late  to  carry  the  election.  The  manner  in  which 
Hampton  held  locked  up  in  his  hand  the  burning  passions 
of  his  people  was  the  most  magnificent  of  the  manifold 
manifestations  of  his  power.  It  will  be  seen  from  this,  that, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  Hampton  did  not  use  force  ("violence") 
in  carrying  the  election,  but  that  the  Radicals  did  use  force 
to  the  greatest  extent  practicable. 

Much  has  been  said  disparagingly  of  the  State  being  but  an 
armed  camp  at  that  time,  as  far  as  the  "Conservatives"  were 
concerned.  So  it  was  an  armed  camp,  and  more,  and  with 
good  reason.  For  years  past,  since  the  first  term  of  Scott,  a 
negro  militia  had  been  organized,  at  least  twenty  thousand 
strong.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  (or 
stolen)  in  equipping  them,  and  besides  many  stands  of  arms 
were  borrowed  from  Washington  for  this  purpose.  They 
were  never  of  the  slightest  value  for  fighting,  but  could  prowl 
about  armed,  murder,  burn,  and  worse.  No  white  militia 
were  allowed  to  be  organized  and  statutes  were  passed  im- 
posing severe  penalties  on  the  military  drilling  of  men  not  so 
organized.  The  police  in  the  cities  and  towns,  and  the 
constables  in  the  villages  were  Radicals.  So  the  whites  were 
not  only  without  any  official  protection,  but,  far  worse,  every 
official  was  their  armed,  active  enemy.  Moreover,  encouraged 
by  the  teaching  that  "it  made  them  manly"  to  have  guns, 
nearly  every  negro  was  provided  with  some  kind  of  firearm. 
So  it  thus  became  the  evident,  urgent  duty  of  the  whites  to 
arm  in  order  to  protect  their  own  firesides,  and  those  of  their 
neighbors,  and  they  did  arm  accordingly.  Their  right  to 
possess  arms  was  beyond  dispute,  for  besides  the  natural 
right,  it  was  one  guaranteed  to  every  citizen  by  the  Consti- 
tution. The  danger  became  more  and  more  pronounced,  and 
the  personal  arming  got  to  be  more  general  and  heavier  by 
the  autumn  of  1876.  As  the  old  New  Englanders  were  in  the 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  119 

habit  of  going  to  church  armed  to  the  teeth  before  they  had 
settled,  by  extermination,  their  Indian  "racial  question,"  so 
it  was  now  in  South  Carolina  from  a  similar  cause.  During 
these  times,  in  the  evenings  at  the  Charleston  Club,  might  be 
seen  on  a  table  near  the  entrance  piles  of  revolvers  left  there 
by  members  on  arriving,  glad  for  the  moment  to  be  relieved  of 
the  unaccustomed  weight  of  one,  often  two,  and  sometimes 
three,  pistols  with  their  cartridges,  they  never  having  before, 
except  in  war,  carried  arms.  But  there  was  good  reason  for  it 
now.  On  the  evening  of  November  8,  the  evening  after  the 
election,  an  aged,  white-haired  clergyman,  as  venerable  in 
character  as  in  years: — though  not  a  member — called  at  the 
Charleston  Club  to  borrow  some  cartridges  for  an  old  rusty, 
harmless  pistol,  which  he  had  managed  somehow  to  procure. 
There  had  been  white  blood  shed  in  the  town  that  day.  Four 
men  going  to  their  places  of  business  were  fired  on  from  the 
neighborhood  of  the  courthouse.  Three  were  wounded,  two 
of  them  being  a  father  and  son,  the  latter  mortally.  In 
another  part  of  the  town  the  chief  editor  of  the  newspaper, 
which  had  been  so  ardent  in  the  Reform  "boom,"  was 
wounded  while  riding  in  the  street.  Citizens  reading  the 
returns  on  the  bulletin  boards  in  the  principal  business 
street  had  been  attacked,  and  many  other  like  demonstrations 
had  been  made.  During  one  of  these,  three  negro  policemen 
in  full  uniform  were  seen  by  the  writer  crouching  behind  one 
of  the  pillars  on  the  street  in  front  of  the  police  headquarters 
pumping  bullets  from  Winchester  rifles.  No  doubt  these 
occurrences  were  not  accidental,  but  parts  of  a  systematic 
plan  to  goad  the  whites  into  "violence,"  and  then  flood  the 
place  with  troops,  now  that  it  was  too  late  to  damage  their 
chances  for  votes  in  the  election  at  the  North,  but  not  too 
late  presumably  to  throw  out  correct  and  substitute  false 
returns.  The  aged  clergyman  referred  to,  had  thought  it  his 
duty  at  such  a  time  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the 
respectable  people  of  the  town,  and  hence  his  call  at  the  club 
to  procure  cartridges  for  his  ancient  weapon.  One  of  the 
members  handed  him  some,  but  he  hesitated  to  take  so  many 
lest  he  be  unduly  depleting  the  ammunition  of  the  giver,  but 
the  latter's  laughing  reply  was,  "A  charge  to  keep  I  have,"  as 


120  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

a  pocketful  was  exhibited.  This  member,  a  lawyer,  amiable 
and  lovable,  a  charming  companion,  William  Clancy,  had 
been  about  two  hours  before,  on  the  way  to  his  office  to 
complete  the  work  of  the  day,  when  he  was  set  upon  by  a 
mob  of  fully  two  dozen  negroes  equipped  with  clubs  and 
firearms,  who  proposed  to  demonstrate  their  fitness  for  the 
elective  franchise  by  promptly  putting  our  friend  to  death. 
But  he,  strange  to  say,  objected  to  this  very  reasonable 
demonstration,  and  treated  each  of  the  two  foremost  to  a 
bullet  from  his  pistol,  and  the  rest  beat  a  masterly  retreat, 
all  this  occurring  within  less  than  one  hundred  yards  of 
police  headquarters,  where  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  fusil- 
lade, until  the  mob  had  fled.  In  the  various  negro  riots  of 
this  day  one  white  man  was  known  to  have  been  killed  and 
fourteen  wounded,  but  there  were  no  doubt  other  casualties 
not  reported.  The  negroes  suffered  very  little  damage  be- 
cause of  the  forbearance  enjoined  by  Hampton  upon  the 
whites. 

But  it  became  necessary  not  only  to  be  personally  armed, 
but  also  to  be  organized.  The  negroes  were  marshaled  in 
militia  regiments  twenty  thousand  strong,  and  under  oath- 
bound  societies,  and  greatly  outnumbered  the  wrhite  popu- 
lation, especially  in  the  lower  part  of  the  State.  It  was  obvi- 
ous, that  the  latter  must  make  the  most  of  their  force  in 
order  to  counterbalance  mere  numbers.  Two  or  three  men 
cooperating  are  much  more  effective  than  the  same  individ- 
uals acting  separately  and  independently,  and  the  advan- 
tage of  organization  is  increased  in  vastly  greater  propor- 
tion when  you  deal  with  large  numbers.  Thus  not  only 
would  the  safety  of  hearths  and  homes  be  promoted,  but  it 
would  greatly  lessen  the  danger  of  bloodshed  for  both  races. 
Thirty  or  forty  good  men  well  organized  in  a  rural  com- 
munity would  be  the  equivalent  in  real  force  of  almost  an 
unlimited  number  of  blacks  and  would  be  recognized  as  such 
by  the  latter  and  go  far  toward  morally  policing  tranquility. 
Besides,  being  thoroughly  under  control,  there  would  be  no 
danger  of  their  becoming  aggressors.  But  the  "Conserva- 
tives" could  not  organize  as  militia,  for  no  white  militia 
would  be  received  by  the  State  authorities,  and  acts  were 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  121 

passed  making  it  highly  penal  to  drill  white  men  not  in  the 
militia.  An  expedient  by  which  general  organization  could 
be  effected  had  therefore  to  be  found.  It  was  effected  by  the 
formation  of  social  societies,  as  rifle,  sabre,  and  artillery 
clubs,  presided  over  by  presidents,  with  secretaries,  marshals, 
and  other  civil  officers.  There  was  not  necessarily  any 
ulterior  object  lurking  under  these  social  associations.  If 
the  peace  of  the  State  were  preserved  by  the  official  author- 
ities, whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  life  and  property,  the 
essential  objects  for  which  all  governments  exist,  there 
would  never  be  any  actions  of  the  clubmakers  outside  of  the 
purposes  indicated  by  their  social  societies.  They  had  in  no 
case  in  contemplation  any  unlawful  proceedings  whatever. 
If  the  occasion  unhappily  arose,  caused  by  the  impotence,  or 
intention  of  the  Radical  authorities,  by  which  negro  riots 
were  precipitated,  then,  although  this  was  not  within  the 
purposes  expressed  by  the  clubs,  they  would  naturally  take 
part  to  suppress  murders,  and  worse.  Meantime,  it  would 
be  advisable,  in  fact  necessary,  to  have  orderly  arrangements 
by  which  members  would  fall-in,  walk  in  line,  and  observe 
other  rules  requisite  for  smoothly  carrying  out  the  ostensible, 
and  lawful  objects  of  the  associations,  and  these  would 
unavoidably  approximate  to  military  discipline,  but  would 
in  fact  not  be  that  at  all.  In  all  these  respects,  without  excep- 
tion, a  rifle  club  would  be  equally  as  lawful  as  a  baseball 
club,  it  being  as  much  the  right  of  a  citizen  to  own  and  law- 
fully use  a  rifle  as  a  baseball  bat.  Such  clubs  would  rest  on 
precisely  the  same  footing  as  baseball  clubs,  and  no  ulterior 
object  could  be  inferred,  much  less  proved,  and  none  of  an 
unlawful  kind  existed.  If  the  members  of  a  baseball  club  on 
their  way  to  play  a  game,  or  when  at  their  rooms,  should 
become  cognizant  of  there  being  a  murderous  attack  on  their 
homes  in  progress,  which  the  regular  official  authorities  were 
unwilling  or  unable  to  disperse,  the  members,  grasping  their 
bats  as  weapons,  would  certainly  fly  to  the  rescue  of  their 
families  and  friends;  and  the  member  of  a  rifle  club,  under 
the  same  circumstances  would  do  exactly  the  same  thing, 
with  his  rifle  as  weapon,  and  all  his  fellow-members  would 
act  in  the  same  way,  and  this  would  be  perfectly  lawful.  It 


122  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

would  not  do  for  the  Executive  of  the  State  or  the  Washing- 
ton Executive  to  say  that  it  was  to  be  inferred  that  "vio- 
lence" was  intended  by  the  mere  formation  of  a  social  rifle 
club.  The  intention  must  be  proved,  either  by  an  overt  act  of 
unlawful  "violence,"  or  else  a  conspiracy  to  commit  such 
"violence"  must  be  proved,  both  of  which  were  impossible  in 
these  cases,  as  no  acts  of  "unlawful  violence"  were  either  com- 
mitted or  contemplated.  But  when  these  clubs  were  during 
the  campaign  "proclaimed"  from  Columbia  and  Washington, 
it  was  not  done  on  the  strength  of  overt  acts  or  conspiracy 
proved,  but  on  what  we  must  term  "telepathic  violence"  (a 
new  title  and  a  new  offense),  that  is  to  say,  "the  intention  to 
commit  unlawful  violence"  discovered  only  by  the  "mind- 
reading"  of  the  State  Executive,  a  "mind-reading,"  which, 
too,  was  at  fault,  as  no  such  intention  existed.  So  when  the 
proclamations  referred  to  were  in  due  time  put  forth,  they 
were  disregarded  as  being  of  no  legal  force,  for  only  on  the 
application  of  the  Legislature  when  in  session,  or  of  the  State 
Executive,  when  such  a  body  is  not  sitting  and  cannot  be 
convened,  based  on  the  fact  of  there  existing  "domestic  vio- 
lence" (not  "telepathic  violence"),  which  the  State  authori- 
ties find  themselves,  after  trying  to  do  so,  unable  to  suppress, 
is  it  competent  for  the  Federal  Executive  to  interfere  and 
furnish  troops.  This  could  not  be  done  lawfully  in  the  case 
alluded  to,  on  the  theory  of  "telepathic  violence,"  for  that 
invented  offence  was  unknown  to  the  law. 

Over  this  "armed  camp,"  with  these  clubs  extending  from 
the  mountains  to  the  sea,  Hampton's  word  was  law,  and  that 
word  was,  "Peace." 

The  nomination  of  Hampton  abruptly  terminated  all  of 
Mr.  Chamberlain's  hopes  of  the  "Reform  boom."  He  was 
thus  placed  in  the  position  of  being  compelled  either  to  relin- 
quish politics  altogether,  as  an  occupation,  or  else  to  throw 
in  his  lot  with  the  worst  element  of  his  party  containing  the 
very  individuals  whom  he  had  personally  denounced  in  most 
scathing  terms.  He  was  nominated  for  Governor  by  this 
party  on  September  15.  But  he  was  obliged  to  surrender, 
in  order  to  obtain  the  nomination,  and  the  ticket — himself 
excepted — was  the  worst,  most  profligate,  and  desperate  that 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  123 

had  as  yet  been  submitted  to  voters.  If  it  had  been  elected, 
it  could  not,  as  he  himself  has  since  then  admitted  in  words 
quoted  on  a  former  page,  have  produced  an  amelioration  of 
conditions.  Not  only  that,  but  it  would  have  proved  the 
fruition  of  the  "Africa  for  the  Africans"  movement ;  violence 
under  the  forms  of  law  would  have  either  driven  the  white 
population  from  the  State,  or  resulted  in  armed  revolution, 
or  permanent  martial  law  under  white  troops. 

J.  J.  Patterson,  "Carpet-bag"  United  States  Senator  from 
South  Carolina,  "Honest  John,"  came  on  to  attend  the  Con- 
vention, as  "boss."  He  was  the  most  powerful  man  in  his 
party,  and  of  the  worst  faction.  There  had  been  a  quarrel 
between  him  and  Mr.  Chamberlain,  but  they  had  made  peace 
on  the  night  before  the  Convention  met,  otherwise  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain could  not  have  obtained  the  nomination.  "Honest 
John"  was  a  rough-looking  man,  far  from  neat  in  appearance, 
with  sandy  complexion  and  hair,  and  a  restless,  furtive  eye. 
He  wore  a  long  black  coat  and  a  watch  chain  big  enough  to 
tie  a  mastiff.  But  his  legs  were  wonderful — long,  thin,  and 
very  crooked ;  and,  when  speaking  to  an  audience,  he  would 
become  nervous,  or  excited,  these  legs  would  double  up  under 
him,  like  those  of  a  contortionist,  so  that  you  could  not 
keep  your  eyes  off  them,  fearing  a  catastrophe.  He  told 
the  Convention,  that  he  and  "Daniel"  (meaning  Chamber- 
lain), "had  fell  out,"  but  that  now  "me  and  Daniel  are 
friends."  He  was  the  person  who  had  made  the  statement 
that  "there  were  still  five  more  years'  good  stealing  in  South 
Carolina."  In  his  speech  he  alluded  to  his  well-earned  repu- 
tation as  a  thief,  but  very  much  in  the  way  that  sweet  six- 
teen might  disclaim  the  soft  impeachment  of  being  a  flirt. 
He  said : 

"President  Grant  has  his  eye  on  South  Carolina  and  in- 
tends to  take  care  of  her,  and  I  will  warrant  that  Grant  will 
bring  the  strong  arm  of  the  United  States  Government  to 
support  and  keep  the  ^Republican  party  in  power.  By  the 
eternal  Gods !  the  Democrats  shan't  have  any  say  at  all  in  the 
government,"  and  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  and  worse. 

And  this  was  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1876 ! 


124  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

There  is  some  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil 
Would  man  observingly  distill  it  out. 

Not  in  Patterson,  distill  ye  never  so  wisely. 

So  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  nominated  for  Governor,  Gleaves, 
his  present  mate  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  a  mulatto,  colored 
like  a  meerschaum  pipe,  was  renominated.  Elliott,  a  negro, 
the  planner  of  the  Whipper-Moses  outrage,  who  had  been 
denounced  by  Chamberlain,  was  nominated  for  Attorney- 
General  ;  Hayne,  a  mulatto,  for  Secretary  of  State ;  and  Car- 
dozo,  a  mulatto,  for  State  Treasurer.  The  rest  of  the  nom- 
inations were  similar,  consisting  of  persons  notoriously  dis- 
honest and  profligate,  and  the  ticket  for  the  Legislature  was 
selected  in  the  same  way. 

Although  "Honest  John's"  words  were  vulgar,  and  his  ap- 
pearance and  manners  repulsive,  yet  the  correctness  of  the 
ideas  which  he  expressed  about  the  intentions  of  the  Wash- 
ington authorities  can  hardly  be  questioned.  On  August  17, 
Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  directed  the  general  command- 
ing the  army  "to  hold  all  the  available  force  under  command, 
not  engaged  in  subduing  the  savages,  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  certain,  condign,  and  effectual  punishment  upon 
all  persons  who  shall  attempt  by  force,  fraud,  terror,  intim- 
idation, or  otherwise  to  prevent  the  free  exercise  of  the  right 
of  suffrage."  Taft,  United  States  Attorney-General,  said, 
"The  marshals  have  absolute  power  over  the  troops."  As 
Radicals  were  to  apply  this  direction  untrammeled  to  what- 
soever they  pleased  to  style  "intimidation,"  there  could  be 
no  doubt  that  the  intention  was  simply  to  make  a  "solid 
South"  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler  and  their  following.  There 
were  at  that  time  in  the  Reconstruction  States  thus  to  be 
"solidified"  138  companies  of  troops  and  batteries  of  artillery, 
amounting  to  about  14,000  men,  and  many  thousand  more 
were  sent  before  November,  and  these  latter  were  despatched 
with  such  haste,  that  they  came  with  full  catridge-boxes 
ready  for  action,  and  were  astonished  when  they  found  pro- 
found peace,  instead  of  the  expected  war. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  allude  to  the  advantages  possessed 
by  the  Radicals  in  the  coming  campaign,  for  they  are  self- 
evident.  Having  in  their  own  hands,  to  be  used  with  entire 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  125 

unscrupulousness,  all  the  machinery  of  nominal  local  gov- 
ernment and  the  strenuous  support  and  encouragement  of 
their  party  at  the  North,  who  were  playing  for  the  electoral 
vote,  it  would  have  seemed  to  those  not  behind  the  scenes 
useless  for  the  "Conservatives"  to  attempt  to  struggle  against 
such  apparently  overwhelming  forces.  But  to  those  who 
could  perceive  beneath  the  surface  the  thorough  rottenness 
and  weakness  underlying  the  acting  State  government,  and 
who  were  alive  to  the  desperate  determination  animating  the 
white  population,  the  situation  looked  very  different. 

It  is  necessary  to  recur  to  an  important  matter  antedating 
the  nomination  of  Hampton  on  August  15. 

On  July  22,  Mr.  Chamberlain  wrote  to  President  Grant 
a  letter  to  which  he  received  a  reply  signed  personally  dated 
July  26.  Mr.  Chamberlain's  letter  was  a  very  lengthy  one, 
conceived  and  expressed  with  much  tact  and  ability,  a  mas- 
terly effort  indeed,  regarded  from  a  purely  political  stand- 
point. Taking  as  his  text  the  Hamburg  riots,  which  had 
occurred  early  in  July,  he  wove  a  plausible  argument  to  the 
effect  that  there  was  widespread  violence  lurking  in  the 
depths  of  society,  though  not  perceptible  on  the  surface,  sub- 
marine torpedoes  set  for  the  purpose  of  blowing  up  the  sacred 
right  of  suffrage,  only  to  be  detected  by  "mind-reading."  He 
argued  that  the  Hamburg  riots  were  an  instance  of  this  kind, 
which  would  be  followed  by  innumerable  others,  unless  force 
were  available  to  crush  them,  and  that  the  only  force  of  the 
kind  adequate,  or  indeed  at  all  available,  was  that  of  United 
States  troops.  He  represented  the  Hamburg  riots  to  have 
been  a  political  disturbance  in  its  origin.  He  forwarded 
enclosed  in  his  letter  some  ex-parte  evidence  taken  by  corrupt 
Eadical  officials,  which,  if  true,  would  have  proved  that  five 
negroes  were  killed  or  wounded  after  they  had  been  cap- 
tured in  the  fight.  Those  accused  of  this  crime  vigorously 
demanded  trial,  but  such  was  never  accorded  them,  which 
does  not  speak  well  for  the  truth  of  the  alleged  evidence. 
But  whatever  the  case  may  or  may  not  have  been  in  this 
regard,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever,  even  from  this  ex-parte 
testimony,  that  politics  entered,  in  the  slightest  degree,  into 
the  riot.  It  was  a  fight  caused  purely  by  personal  friction, 


126  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

having  no  connection  at  all  with  politics.  Hamburg  was 
then,  as  now,  a  little  place  in  South  Carolina  opposite 
Augusta  on  the  Savannah  River.  The  town  officials  were 
negroes,  and  there  had  been  for  years  past  mutual  vexations 
and  exasperations,  which  necessarily  result  from  such  con- 
ditions, more  pronounced  and  irritating  there  because  just 
across  the  river  in  Augusta  order  and  tranquility  prevailed. 
Finally  some  negroes,  acting  under  false  color  of  militia 
organization  not  authorized  by  law,  and  armed  with  rifles 
belonging  to  the  State  illegally  obtained,  came  in  collision 
with  two  respectable  white  men,  who  employed  a  lawyer  and 
sought  legal  redress.  The  negroes  summoned  to  attend  the 
court  refused  to  comply,  and  took  position  armed,  within  a 
building.  White  men,  expostulating  with  them  and  trying 
to  induce  them  to  give  up  their  arms  and  peaceably  disperse, 
were  fired  upon  and  one  of  the  number  instantly  killed.  The 
sequel  could  be  predicted,  in  spite  of  the  odds  and  the  strength 
of  the  position  held  by  the  negroes.  But  there  was  nothing 
political  in  it  at  all,  from  first  to  last.  Under  the  same  con- 
ditions, and  in  the  absence  of  the  restraining  influence  of  law, 
a  similar  collision  between  white  men  and  Democrats  would 
have  been  probable.  But  Mr.  Chamberlain  represents  to  Gen- 
eral Grant  that,  because  all  of  the  rioters  on  one  side  were 
white  and  Democrats,  and  all  on  the  other  negroes  and  Repub- 
licans, it  follows  that  it  was  a  political  riot  caused  by  a  wide- 
spread determination  to  deprive  the  negro  of  the  right  to  vote. 
This  logic  would  be  on  the  same  plane  as  to  argue  that,  because 
now  all  the  burglars,  murderers  and  rapists  are  negroes 
and  Republicans,  and  their  victims  whites  and  Democrats, 
therefore  burglary,  murder  and  rape  are  political  crimes  con- 
nected with  the  negro  franchise.  The  evidence  adduced  in  the 
letter  of  the  existence  of  widespread  "domestic  violence"  was 
not  founded  at  all  on  overt  acts,  or  proved  conspiracy,  but 
entirely  as  "telepathic  violence."  After  his  presentation  of 
the  case  Mr.  Chamberlain  puts  the  question  squarely  whether, 
in  case  of  "domestic  violence"  beyond  his  control,  he  can 
count  definitely  on  the  Federal  troops.  The  reply  is  also  a 
somewhat  long  one,  and,  after  commenting  at  length  and  very 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  127 

severely  on  the  existing  status  of  the  Democratic  State  Gov- 
ernments in  Louisiana  and  Mississippi,  explicitly  promises 
troops,  when  the  "domestic  violence"  referred  to  by  Mr. 
Chamberlain  makes  their  presence,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
latter,  advisable.  It  does  not  appear  how  far  the  President 
was  made  a  convert  to  the  "telepathic  violence"  theory,  but, 
as  it  was  left  to  the  Governor  to  decide  about  the  occasion  for 
troops,  it  would  be  immaterial  whether  the  President  was  or 
was  not  a  convert,  as  the  former  would  all  the  same  act  upon 
the  theory,  when  he  desired,  and  could  count  upon  being  at 
once  supported  without  inquiry  into  facts. 

In  this  connection  one  remembers  that  the  Convention  of 
the  Republican  Party  of  South  Carolina  in  April  of  this  year 
extolled  in  the  strongest  of  language  the  Southern  policy 
of  President  Grant's  administration,  and  unanimously  advo- 
cated a  third  term  for  him,  and  that  Grant  believed  himself 
entitled  to  this  reward  from  his  party  in  return  for  the  power 
his  name  and  military  prestige  lent  to  the  upholding  of  the 
anti-Lincoln  programme  of  Eeconstruction.  Nor  were  the 
desire  and  expectation  of  Grant  of  a  third  term  ended  by  the 
nomination  and  counting  in  of  Hayes,  for  he  could  become  his 
successor,  and  the  nominating  conventions  and  electoral 
votes  of  the  three  "Reconstructed  States,"  which  still  might 
be  held  for  the  party — South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  and 
Florida — would  be  very  important  to  the  fruition  of  his 
hopes.  This  no  doubt  will  go  far  to  explain  the  attitude 
taken  by  him  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  his  sub- 
sequent course  throughout  the  Hampton  campaign. 

The  great,  and  apparently  overpowering  advantage,-  that 
Mr.  Chamberlain  gained  by  this  arrangement  with  the  Exec- 
utive, which  was  susceptible  of  proof  whenever  he  chose 
to  show  the  letter,  is  evident.  His  chances  of  carrying 
through  the  "Reform"  agreement  were  not  yet  gone,  although 
by  this  time  greatly  lessened  from  the  prospect  at  an  earlier 
date.  That  arrangement  was  manifestly  to  his  interest,  as 
he  would  thus  be  assured  of  securing  the  electoral  vote,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  State  election,  and  for  the  former  he  would  be 
entitled,  by  political  ethics,  to  a  large  reward  for  himself  and 
to  provision  for  his  party  friends.  The  letter  would,  in  case 


128  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  consummation  of  the  "Reform"  agreement,  enable  him 
by  the  weight  which  it  would  give  him  with  his  fellow  Rad- 
icals to  lash  into  line  any  rebelious  spirits  or  waverers  and, 
if  occasion  required,  he  could  use  troops  against  the  "Africa 
for  Africans"  dissentients.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
"Reform"  deal  were  to  fall  through,  he  could,  by  using  the 
letter  and  all  that  it  implied,  crush  out  any  opposition  that 
might  develop  to  his  nomination  as  the  regular  Radical  candi- 
date, and  could  afterward  in  the  campaign  make  use  of  troops 
when  he  wished  against  the  white  population  and  its  follow- 
ing of  Democratic  negroes,  and  thus,  as  he  conceived,  make 
sure  of  the  election  both  Federal  and  State.  That  the  use 
of  troops  would  not  prove  an  omnipotent  force,  he  could  not 
then  foresee.  As  already  pointed  out,  his  hands  were,  to  a 
certain  extent,  tied,  in  that  he  could  not  make  too  prominent 
a  use  of  troops  before  the  election,  for  fear  of  creating  at  the 
North  a  feeling  like  that  aroused  by  the  similar  Louisiana 
incidents  referred  to.  After  the  November  elections,  when 
only  the  counting  had  to  be  done,  the  Louisiana  proceeding 
was  in  fact  duplicated,  as  we  shall  see  later  in  this  narrative. 
If,  however,  before  the  election  was  held,  it  could  be  arranged 
to  goad  the  Conservatives  into  resistance  and  manage  to 
bring  them  into  conflict  with  the  Federal  troops  or  authori- 
ties, to  such  an  extent  as  to  blind  the  North  to  the  real  facts 
and  merits  of  the  case,  then  free  hand  could  be  had  with  the 
use  of  troops  to  control  the  election.  But  in  this  he  was 
balked  by  the  wisdom  of  Hampton  and  the  patience  and  for- 
bearance which  he  imposed  upon  his  followers. 

In  accordance  with  the  agreement  made  with  the  Execu- 
tive, orders  were  issued  to  make  such  a  disposition  of  troops 
as  would  render  them  most  effectively  available  when  needed 
by  the  Governor. 

On  September  6,  about  ten  days  before  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
nomination  as  Radical  candidate  for  reelection,  occurred  the 
first  riot  of  consequence  in  the  Conservative  campaign.  A 
"Conservative"  political  meeting  was  held  in  Charleston  to 
consolidate  and  give  standing  to  the  negro  Democratic  clubs, 
many  of  which  were  present.  This  incensed  the  Radicals 
and  they,  according  to  their  own  admission,  broke  up  the 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  129 

meeting,  killing  two  Democrats,  one  of  whom  was  a  negro. 
No  political  capital  was  sought  to  be  made  of  that  occurrence 
against  the  "Conservatives,"  as  the  facts  were  too  patent  and 
the  affair  took  place  at  a  center  where  the  searchlights  were 
strong,  and,  besides,  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  not  then  been 
nominated.  It  was  not,  however,  considered  "domestic  vio- 
lence" on  the  part  of  the  negroes,  and  no  punishment  was 
attempted  against  them ;  there  was  no  call  for  "troops,"  nor 
did  Marshal  Wallace  attempt  to  make  a  single  arrest. 

But  before  this,  from  August  23  to  September  16,  riots 
had  been  daily  taking  place  on  plantations  on  or  near  the 
Combahee  Elver,  where  much  rice  is  cultivated.  Several 
negroes  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  many  severely  beaten 
and  maimed  by  other  negro  strikers,  the  processes  of  law 
had  been  successfully  resisted,  and  anarchy  prevailed.  In 
these  riots  only  negroes  were  concerned.  But  the  Governor 
did  nothing,  made  no  attempt  to  quiet  the  disturbance;  nor 
did  he  "call  for  troops"  nor  wire  Washington  that  "domestic 
violence"  existed.  The  tumult  was  eventually  quieted  by  the 
influence  of  the  white  population  without  the  use  of  force. 

On  September  16  what  are  known  as  the  Ellenton  Riots 
in  Aiken  County  began  and  lasted  several  days.  They  origin- 
ated in  an  assault  attempted  by  two  negroes  on  a  very 
respectable  white  woman,  the  wife  of  a  farmer  absent  in  his 
fields.  At  any  time  and  anywhere,  North  or  South,  this 
crime  will  necessarily  arouse  the  strongest  passions  of  neigh- 
bors, and  wrhere  corrupt  courts,  negro  juries,  and  purchasable 
pardons  made  the  prospect  of  punishment  by  legal  means 
altogether  impossible,  it  would  have  been  but  natural  for  the 
white  population  to  have  caught  and  lynched  the  offenders. 
It  should  be  well  understood,  too,  by  those  really  wishing 
to  comprehend  this  question  of  the  "nameless  crime"  and 
lynching,  both  of  which  were  created  at  the  South  by  the 
Reconstruction  Acts,  that,  where  such  a  crime  was  committed, 
the  great  bulk  of  the  negroes,  not  being  alive  to  its  full  enor- 
mity, would  become  accessories  after  the  fact,  endeavoring 
to  harbor  and  conceal,  and  assist  the  criminal  in  escaping — 
which  is  still  at  present  too  often  the  case  with  them — and 
that  therefore  sometimes  they  would  unavoidably  share  the 


130  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

fate  intended  for  accessories  before  the  fact.  In  this  instance, 
however,  they  made  no  attempt  to,  and  had  no  intention  of, 
lynching  the  criminals,  for  they  were  under  Hampton's  strict 
injunctions  to  act  only  within  the  law.  A  small  party  of 
men — about  twelve  in  number — quickly  went  in  pursuit  of 
the  offenders  and  apprehended  one,  whom  they  took  for 
identification,  and,  when  this  had  been  effected,  were  pro- 
ceeding to  take  him  to  jail,  when  he  broke  away  and  would 
have  escaped,  if  he  had  not  been  shot  at  and  wounded.  The 
next  day  it  was  ascertained  that  the  negroes  throughout  the 
country  were  assembling  in  large  numbers,  armed  and 
threatening  vengeance.  The  neighborhood  was  but  sparsely 
settled  by  whites,  and  the  danger  to  their  homes  very  great, 
and  they  consequently  got  together  for  mutual  protection. 
On  the  following  day  it  was  reported  that  the  negro  con- 
cerned in  the  attempted  assault  had  sought  protection  with 
a  large  number  of  armed  negroes  concentrated  at  a  strong 
position.  A  regular  constable,  duly  provided  with  a  warrant 
from  a  Republican  magistrate  and  accompanied  by  a  posse, 
proceeded  to  serve  the  warrant  and  arrest  the  criminal.  Be- 
fore reaching  the  place  where  the  armed  negroes  were  sup- 
posed to  be,  the  posse,  without  warning,  was  fired  upon  from 
ambush,  and  the  fire  was  returned,  but,  so  far  as  known,  with- 
out effect  on  either  side.  After  a  time  a  conference  between 
the  posse  and  the  negroes  was  had,  the  constable  exhibiting 
the  warrant,  but  by  that  time  the  criminal  had  had  time  to 
betake  himself  elsewhere.  It  was  then  mutually  agreed  that 
both  parties  would  disperse  to  their  homes,  which  was  done 
by  the  whites,  but  the  negroes  did  not  carry  out  their  part  of 
the  agreement,  but  remained  where  they  were  and  fired  upon 
two  white  men  happening  to  travel  the  road  about  two  hours 
afterward,  while  another  party  a  few  miles  off  ambushed 
some  whites,  wounding  five,  and  waylaid  two  other  farmers, 
one  of  whom  they  succeeded  in  killing.  They  then  tore  up  the 
track  of  what  was  at  that  time  called  the  Port  Royal  rail- 
road, wrecked  a  train,  cut  the  telegraph  wires,  and  burned  a 
mill  and  ginhouse  in  the  neighborhood.  After  some  further 
collisions,  in  which  the  whites,  owing  to  their  smaller  num- 
bers, suffered  as  many,  or  more  casualties  than  the  negroes, 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  131 

the  latter  moved  down  to  a  swamp  near  Ellenton,  and  the 
whites  were  marching  upon  them  in  orderly  formation,  when 
they  met  a  company  of  United  States  regulars,  which  had 
been  dispatched  to  the  scene.  A  conference  was  held  with  the 
officer  in  command  and,  on  his  promise  that  he  would  cause 
the  negroes  to  disperse,  the  whites  returned  to  their  homes, 
leaving  the  settlement  of  the  riot  to  the  troops.  Thus  ended 
the  riot  as  far  as  bloodshed  was  concerned. 

The  above  are  the  facts  of  the  case  and  are,  in  brief,  the 
sworn  statement  of  men  living  in  the  neighborhood,  of  the 
highest  position  in  the  country,  of  life-long  unblemished 
character,  having  knowledge  of  the  transaction,  and  not  con- 
cerned or  suspected  of  having  been  concerned  in  it.  Such 
evidence  would  be  accepted  today  as  conclusive  by  any  jury 
in  the  land.  This  sworn  statement  was  tendered  by  the 
signers  to  the  Commissioner  collecting  the  affidavits  from 
negroes,  but  he  avoided  accepting  it  or  making  it  a  part  of 
the  record.  It  was,  however,  published  in  the  newspapers, 
as  information  to  the  public,  and  also  forwarded  by  Hampton 
to  Washington.  The  testimony  on  the  other  side  was  taken 
by  Radical  partizan  Commissioners,  and  the  affidavits  were 
those  of  irresponsible  negroes,  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
riot,  who  had  no  appreciation  of  the  meaning  of  an  oath, 
whose  passions  were  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  who 
received  pay  for  making  the  affidavits.  No  court  or  jury  in 
the  world,  at  the  present  day,  would  attach  any  credibility 
whatever  to  testimony  of  such  witnesses  so  taken. 

It  is  necessary  to  point  out  here  that  these  Ellenton  riots 
bear  the  marks  of  preparation,  and  not  of  accident.  The 
provocation  given  the  white  population  was  of  the  character 
known  to  be  sure  to  stir  up  ,the  people,  and  the  instan- 
taneous assembling  of  hundreds  of  armed  negroes,  concen- 
trated and  ready  for  action,  proved  previous  arrangement. 
So  does  the  prompt  taking  of  affidavits  and  the  political 
capital  obtained  from  them,  and  the  call  for  troops. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September  a  public  notice  was  posted 
at  Belton  by  negroes,  or  "carpet-baggers,"  "warning  colored 
Democrats,"  some  of  whom  were  named,  "not  to  join  any 
more  Democratic  processions,"  threatening  to  flog  them  and 


132  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

drive  them  from  the  county,  and  giving  them  a  limited  time 
to  leave.  There  were  other  similar  notices.  No  attempt  was 
made  by  the  Governor,  or  United  States  Marshal  to  inflict 
"condign  punishment"  nor  to  disperse  these  "intimidators," 
nor  were  "troops"  hurried  to  the  neighborhood?  Why? 

Early  in  October  the  Governor,  basing  his  action,  as  he 
alleged,  on  the  Ellenton  Riots,  wrote  to  the  Federal  Execu- 
tive claiming  the  fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  furnish  him 
troops  against  "domestic  violence."  Owing  to  the  absence  of 
the  President  from  Washington  on  a  holiday,  the  call  was  not 
acted  upon  until  October  17,  when  an  Executive  proclama- 
tion was  issued  notifying  the  rifle  clubs  and  others  to  disband. 
On  the  same  day  the  Secretary  of  War  was  directed  to  order 
"all  the  available  force  in  the  Military  Division  of  the 
Atlantic  to  report  to  General  Ruger  commanding  at  Colum- 
bia, S.  C.,  and  to  instruct  that  officer  to  station  his  troops  in 
such  localities  that  they  may  be  most  speedily  and  effectually 
used  in  case  of  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  United 
States — supplemented,  if  necessary,  by  the  militia  of  the 
various  States."  Meantime,  on  October  7,  the  Governor 
had  similarly  "proclaimed"  the  rifle  clubs  and  all  other 
persons  and  organizations  supposed  to  be  armed.  He  also 
issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  giving 
his  version  of  the  Ellenton  Riots  and  the  state  of  public 
affairs  based  on  alleged  information  which  had  been  obtained 
from  the  sources  that  we  have  mentioned.  He  was  not  even 
in  the  State  at  the  time  the  alleged  occurrences  took  place. 
He  stated  that  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  negroes  had  been 
killed  and  as  far  as  known  not  one  white  man,  whereas  the 
facts  are  that  the  casualties  were,  among  the  whites  ten,  and 
the  negroes  eighteen,  one  of  the  latter  being  the  original 
assailant  of  the  woman,  who  after  arrest  tried  to  run  away 
from  the  posse.  At  the  same  time  Corbin,  who  was  United 
States  District  Attorney,  a  carpet-bagger  of  many  years 
standing,  and  one  of  the  Governor's  stanchest  supporters, 
went  to  Aiken  County  to  assist  the  United  States  Commis- 
sioner in  obtaining  evidence,  such  as  has  been  already 
described,  against  the  white  Ellenton  rioters,  with  a  view  to 
prosecuting  them  in  a  United  States  Court  for  conspiracy  to 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  133 

deprive  the  negroes  of  their  votes.  Great  political  capital 
was  sought  to  be  made  out  of  it.  The  number  of  arrests  it 
would  be  impossible  to  give  accurately,  because  they  were 
made  frequently  without  record  kept,  but  during  the  time 
intervening  before  the  November  election  they  numbered 
several  hundred,  mostly  of  whites,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Democratic  negroes,  but  no  Radicals.  In  one  day  thirty-two 
highly  respectable  citizens  were  thus  arrested  in  Aiken 
County,  and  afterward  discharged  for  want  of  evidence. 
General  Hampton  telegraphed  to  General  M.  C.  Butler  and 
General  Hagood,  to  use  their  utmost  influence  to  induce  the 
people  to  submit  to  this  martial  law  and  to  make  no  resist- 
ance, as  it  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  furnish  the 
Radicals  with  no  pretext  that  could  be  tortured  by  fraudu- 
lent affidavits  into  "campaign  ammunition."  The  result  of 
all  this  harrying  was  widespread  distress  throughout  the 
country-side.  Women  and  children  had  to  be  sent  away  from 
home  to  places  of  safety  as  the  negroes  were  greatly  elated 
and  rendered  very  turbulent,  night  was  made  hideous,  many 
a  poor  man's  barn  burned,  and  the  lives  of  the  aged  and  weak 
and  of  women  and  children  were  shortened. 

It  had  now  reached  the  middle  of  October,  and  the  anxiety 
in  Washington  over  the  coming  Presidential  and  Congres- 
sional elections,  to  take  place  three  weeks  later,  became  very 
acute.  It  was  evident  that  it  would  require  the  most  ener- 
getic exertions  to  turn  the  tide  against  the  Democrats  in  the 
country,  and  therefore  the  electoral  vote  and  Congressional 
representation  of  South  Carolina  assumed  an  importance  not 
attached  to  it,  to  the  same  extent,  earlier  in  the  campaign, 
and,  besides,  the  capture  of  the  State  then  was  considered  a 
foregone  conclusion.  In  consequence  of  this,  frantic  efforts 
were  put  forth  by  the  friends  of  the  Radicals  at  the  North. 
It  proved  a  great  misfortune  to  the  State  that  the  Hampton 
movement  had  taken  place  in  the  year  of  a  Presidential  elec- 
tion and  was  therefore  complicated  with  it.  Had  it  not  been 
for  this,  the  better  elements  of  the  Republican  party  at  the 
North  would  have  been  loth  to  increase  the  load  of  dis- 
credit from  the  South,  which  they  had  already  found  it  hard 
to  carry.  But  the  temptation  of  securing,  by  any  means,  the 


134  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

electoral  vote  and  the  Congressional  representation  over- 
shadowed all  other  considerations.  On  the  other  hand, 
although  the  situation  and  doings  in  South  Carolina  fur- 
nished ammunition  to  the  Democrats,  and  gained  them  votes 
at  the  North,  yet  their  friends  there  could  render  but  little 
assistance  to  their  Southern  confreres.  There  must  always, 
probably,  remain  considerable  uncertainty  as  to  the  share  of 
responsibility  of  the  State  Radical  party  and  its  colleagues 
at  the  North  acting  through  Federal  office-holders  in  the 
State,  for  the  worst  and  most  extreme  measures  to  carry  the 
election  in  South  Carolina.  It  is  natural  to  suppose,  how- 
ever, that  the  greater  blame  rests  on  the  latter,  as  their  temp- 
tation was  even  stronger,  the  stake  being  so  large,  and  there 
are  other  reasons  also  for  believing  this.  It  is  likely  that  the 
set  purpose  of  bringing  about  collisions  between  the  races — 
only  thwarted  by  Hampton's  inflexible  rule  and  unsleeping 
vigilance — in  order  to  "wave  the  bloody  shirt,"  make  arrests, 
and  flood  the  State  with  troops,  and  the  scheme  to  precipitate 
a  conflict  between  these  and  the  whites,  were  principally 
worked  from  outside  the  State  officials,  with  some  exceptions. 
Indeed  it  was  so  self-evident  that,  if  very  serious  riots  were 
brought  about,  the  white  "carpet-baggers"  would  suffer  in 
the  melee,  that  this  exerted  some  restraining  influence  on 
them,  while  the  Federal  office-holders  considered  themselves 
to  possess  a  chartered  impunity,  and  were  proportionately 
emboldened.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  many 
Republican  journals  at  the  North  blamed  Mr.  Chamberlain 
very  severely  for  "his  plan  of  campaign"  in  arresting  respect- 
able citizens  without  cause,  on  trumped  up  affidavits,  and  said 
that  he  was  "ruining  the  Republican  party,"  and  "electing 
Tilden."  The  troops  sent  so  freely  to  the  State  did  not  prove 
as  overwhelming  an  instrument  in  the  Radicals'  hands  as 
they  had  expected.  The  minor  officers,  whatever  their 
politics  might  have  been,  soon  took  in  the  situation  from 
personal  observation,  and  saw  that,  as  far  as  the  State  elec- 
tion was  concerned,  it  was  not  a  question  of  politics  at  all, 
but  of  plain,  clear  right  against  wrong.  They  could  not  mix 
in  a  friendly  personal  way  with  the  "carpet-baggers,"  for  they 
perceived  that  the  social  ostracism  in  which  these  were  held 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  135 

by  the  white  population  had  too  good  cause,  while  they  found 
in  the  residents  people  of  congenial  manners  and  feelings, 
and  with  these  they  fraternized.  They  were  compelled  to 
obey  orders,  frequently  very  distasteful  ones,  but  a  thing 
may  be  done  humanely  and  judiciously,  or  harshly  and 
cruelly,  and  few  instances  of  the  latter  are  known  to  the 
writer.  As  for  the  privates  and  non-commissioned  officers, 
they  were,  one  and  all,  strongly  sympathetic  with  the  white 
citizens.  All  this  might  have  been  different,  if  general  poli- 
tics had  entered  into  the  situation,  but  locally  politics  was 
not  in  it  at  all,  but  only  respectability  against  ignorance  and 
crime.  It  was  a  different  thing  in  1867-68,  when  volunteer 
officers  were  employed,  such  men  as  Scott,  for  instance.  The 
writer  can  vouch  for  the  following.  During  the  latter  part 
of  October  two  residents  of  Charleston  were  talking  with  a 
colonel  of  regulars,  stationed  there,  and  the  conversation 
drifted  to  public  affairs. 

"I  hope  there  will  be  no  trouble,"  said  he. 

"There  will  be  none  coming  from  the  white  population, 
Colonel.  It  would  be  contrary  to  their  interests.  General 
Hampton's  programme  is,  quiet." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  know  that ;  I  can  see  that.  But,  if  the  whites 
lose  patience  at  last,  and  there  is  trouble,  I  hope  your  friends 
will  see  to  it  that  vengeance  is  not  wreaked  upon  the  poor 
misled  negroes,  but  upon  the  white  carpet-baggers,  who  are 
responsible  for  all  this  thing." 

On  October  17  took  place  the  Cainhoy  Riots.  This  little 
village  is  a  few  miles  by  water  from  Charleston.  A  joint- 
meeting  for  discussion  was  arranged  to  take  place  there,  and 
a  party,  accompanied  by  their  speakers,  composed  of  Con- 
servatives and  Radicals,  went  from  Charleston  in  a  steamer 
to  attend  it.  The  former,  as  agreed  upon,  carried  no  rifles 
and  not  all  were  provided  even  with  pocket  pistols,  as  the 
Radicals  had  pledged  themselves  to  maintain  order  and  that 
their  friends  would  be  without  rifles.  It  was  a  neighborhood 
where  the  negroes  were  living  in  large  numbers,  and  there 
were  very  few  white  residents.  The  blacks  attending  had 
hidden  their  rifles  in  a  thicket  contiguous  to  the  place  of 
meeting,  and  while  this  was  in  progress,  without  provocation, 


136  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

by  prearrangement,  a  riot  was  started.  The  negroes  ran  for 
their  rifles  close  by,  and  from  the  advantage  of  the  cover 
opened  fire  upon  the  whites,  killing  six  of  them,  only  one 
black  being  killed  or  wounded,  as  far  as  known.  The  whites 
got  back  to  their  boat  some  three  miles  distant  and  departed 
for  Charleston,  leaving  their  dead  behind,  not  a  very  credit- 
able affair  in  that  respect,  but  proving,  at  least,  their  non- 
resistance.  That  night  a  rifle  club  was  despatched  to  the 
scene  of  the  disturbance  to  protect  the  village,  which  was 
done  without  attempting  to  arrest  any  of  the  riotous  negroes, 
and  on  the  following  day  the  club  was  amicably  relieved  by  a 
company  of  United  States  troops,  between  whom  and  the 
rifle  club  the  United  States  Marshal,  Wallace,  tried  unsuc- 
cessfully to  stir  up  trouble.  A  vigorous  effort  was  made  by 
the  Radicals  to  twist  this  affair  into  political  capital  as  was 
intended  it  should  be,  and  the  usual  plan  of  procuring  negro 
witnesses  was  put  in  practice,  but  owing  to  the  forbearance — 
or  more — proved  by  the  whites,  it  did  not  turn  out  as  good 
a  card  as  had  been  expected.  No  negroes,  however,  were 
arrested,  and  they  became  in  consequence  more  and  more 
aggressive  and  disorderly,  interfering  greatly  with  the  can- 
vass. The  whole  thing  bore  the  stamp  of  prearrangement 
upon  its  face.  Here  was  "domestic  violence"  of  the  real  kind, 
but  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  the  marshal  used  no  troops  or 
negro  deputy-marshals  to  arrest  the  murderers.  They  were 
chartered  for  the  work,  while  the  best  people  in  the  upper 
counties  were  at  the  same  time  being  hunted  down  for  pro- 
tecting their  homes  from  similar  treatment.  Within  a  few 
days  of  this  occurrence,  after  a  Hampton  meeting  held  at 
Edgefield,  six  white  farmers,  respectable  men,  returning 
quietly  to  their  homes,  were  ambushed  by  negroes  with 
militia  rifles,  and  one  killed  and  one  wounded.  The  Governor 
tried  to  do  nothing,  the  marshal  tried  to  do  nothing,  to  punish 
the  perpetrators  of  this  "domestic  violence,"  or  to  prevent  the 
recurrence  of  such  bloody  "intimidation."  Why  was  this  so? 
Some  time  after  this,  when  the  campaign  was  over,  "Honest 
John"  Patterson  said,  "That  Cainhoy  massacre  was  a  god- 
send to  us.  We  could  not  have  carried  Charleston  County 
without  it,"  because  of  the  encouragement  thus  given  to  the 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  137 

negroes  to  intimidate  other  negroes  from  voting  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket.  He  added  that  700  arrests  of  Democrats  were 
made  during  the  campaign. 

On  October  19  occurred  one  of  the  moves  under  the  Ellen- 
ton  Kiot  programme,  which  would  probably  have  resulted  in 
bloodshed  but  for  wonderful  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the 
aggrieved.  A  Democratic  meeting,  at  which  General  Hamp- 
ton was  present  as  speaker,  took  place  at  Aiken.  Imme- 
diately after  the  speeches,  the  United  States  Marshal  with 
a  squad  of  troops  arrested  eleven  of  the  principal  Conserva- 
tives present  on  the  usual  charge  of  "conspiracy,"  the  purpose 
evidently  being  to  bring  on  a  disturbance  and  thus  embroil 
the  citizens  with  United  States  troops.  However,  the 
arrested  men  quietly  submitted,  and  after  a  while  procured 
bail,  thus  frustrating  the  plan.  The  whole  thing  was  the 
very  refinement  of  cruelty.  Wallace,  the  marshal,  a  "scala- 
wag"— the  crop  of  such  was  very  "short,"  thank  God — had 
all  the  physical  Federal  machinery  in  his  hands  and,  besides, 
the  troops  at  his  absolute  disposal,  and  nearly  every  other 
negro  you  met  in  those  days  was  a  "deputy  marshal"  under 
him,  drawing  daily  wages  for  harrying  the  whites.  As  the 
Governor  was  at  the  head  of  the  State  Eadicals,  so  was  Wal- 
lace "high  up"  among  the  Federal  officeholders,  and  the  con- 
fidential agent  of  his  party  leaders  at  the  North  and,  as 
Attorney-General  Taft  said,  "supreme"  with  the  troops.  He 
was  to  keep  a  watch,  too,  upon  the  other  Federal  officeholders, 
deputed  to  keep  them  lashed  forward  to  seize  the  prize  of  the 
electoral  vote  and  the  Congressional  delegation,  and  his  exer- 
tions knew  no  bounds.  This  arrest,  as  I  have  said,  was  the 
very  refinement  of  cruelty,  for  not  only  was  the  Aiken  meet- 
ing a  political  affair  but  it  partook  also  very  largely  of  the 
nature  of  a  social  function.  General  Hampton  was  being 
welcomed  by  the  men  arrested  not  only  as  the  leader  of  their 
political  movement  but  also  as  the  honored  guest  invited  to 
partake  of  the  warmest  hospitality  their  homes  could  render. 
The  studied  insult  to  hosts  and  guest  involved  in  this  arrest, 
which  could  with  equal  ease  have  been  effected  at  any  other 
time,  was  unmistakably  planned  for  the  purpose,  as  we  have 
already  indicated,  of  involving  a  contest  with  the  troops,  and 


138  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

that  it  did  not  serve  the  purpose  intended  was  due  only  to  a 
self-restraint  that,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  no  man  in  the 
world  but  Hampton  could  have  imposed.  Colonel  A.  P. 
Butler,  chairman  of  the  meeting,  was  one  of  those  arrested. 

The  State  "Conservative"  Executive  Committee  gave  to  the 
country  the  true  state  of  affairs,  showing  that  there  was  no 
"domestic  violence"  in  the  State,  and  General  Hampton  also 
explicitly  denied  its  existence.  The  Committee,  under  Gen- 
eral Hampton's  authority,  inquired  of  the  Governor  where 
the  alleged  "violence"  existed,  and  pledged  the  readiness  of 
the  white  population  to  act  as  legal  posses  under  him  to  main- 
tain order  there  and  elsewhere,  but  this  offer  was  rejected, 
in  somewhat  heated  language.  The  Governor,  on  October 
25,  in  a  letter  to  the  New  York  Times  referring  to  Hamp- 
ton's denial,  admits  that  the  "civil  officers  had  not  been 
resisted  in  the  execution  of  the  laws,"  but  adds  that  "resist- 
ance may  exist  without  being  physical."  So  here  again  we 
have  the  "telepathic  violence"  theory,  and  the  admission  that 
troops  were  called  for  on  that  ground  alone — not  a  lawful 
one. 

A  manifesto  was  also  issued  to  the  country  signed  by  the 
principal  clergymen  in  the  State,  including  those  of  all 
denominations,  certifying  to  the  conditions  existing  and  the 
absence  of  violence,  and  that  the  contest,  as  far  as  the  State 
elections  were  concerned,  was  not  one  of  politics  at  all,  but  of 
civilization  represented  by  the  white  population,  against 
barbarism  led  by  thieves  and  vagabonds,  the  negro  and  the 
"carpet-bagger."  This  was  published  by  the  Democratic 
newspapers  at  the  North,  and  also  by  a  portion  of  the  Repub- 
lican press,  and  had  much  effect :  it  knocked  hard,  and  not  in 
vain,  for  admission  to  the  conscience  of  the  people.  It  was 
evident  to  the  most  careless  reader,  that  if  the  accounts 
emanating  from  the  Radical  leaders,  State  and  Federal,  were 
not  absolutely  untrue,  then  every  clergyman  whose  signature 
was  affixed  to  this  paper — and  many  of  these  names  were 
known  far  and  wide — was  a  perjurer  of  the  basest  descrip- 
tion. 

In  reply  also  to  General  Hampton,  the  Judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  and  of  the  Circuit  Court  wrote  letters,  which 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  139 

were  published,  denying  the  truth  of  the  Governor's  state- 
ments to  the  effect  that  violence  and  disturbances  existed,  or 
that  processes  of  the  Courts  were  resisted  or  obstructed,  and 
this  information  was  all  sent  by  Hampton  to  the  President. 
The  bankers  and  capitalists  did  the  same  thing,  and  also  men 
of  Northern  birth  resident  in  the  State  for  business  purposes. 
From  this  time  on  until  election  day,  the  exertions  of  both 
parties,  already  so  manfully  vigorous  on  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  limited  by  no  law,  human  or  divine,  grew  daily  more 
and  more  desperately  strenuous.  General  Hampton  seemed 
everywhere  at  once,  working  day  and  night.  The  only  effect 
that  the  "proclamations,"  State  and  Federal,  against  the 
rifle  clubs  had  had,  was  to  stir  up  increased  armed  organiza- 
tion, which  for  the  safety  of  hearth  and  home  was  thus 
demonstrated  to  be  indispensable,  if  any  further  proof  had 
been  needed.  Heavy  importations  of  arms  and  ammunition 
were  daily  arriving,  packed  in  dry-goods  boxes,  provision  bar- 
rels, and  other  devices  for  eluding  detection.  Combinations 
for  action  between  neighboring  households  of  even  three  or 
four  members  would  be  made,  where  these  did  not  already 
belong  to  some  larger  organization.  Every  man  of  responsi- 
bility combined  with  some  one  else  for  self-preservation. 
Red-shirted  horsemen  traversed  the  lonely  country  districts 
and  seemed  omnipresent  at  all  the  cross-roads.  Democratic 
negroes  must  be  protected,  and  much  they  needed  it,  and  if 
this  were  "intimidation,"  then  it  was  of  such  kind  as  law  and 
order  always  seem  to  be  to  the  evil-doer.  The  joint  discus- 
sions went  on  more  vehemently  than  ever,  but  the  "Conserva- 
tives" took  care  not  to  be  caught  in  a  trap  such  as  had  been 
set  for  them  at  Cainhoy.  The  "Conservative"  State  Com- 
mittee endeavored  to  bring  about  such  joint  meetings  at 
which  General  Hampton  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  should  speak 
on  the  issues,  but  the  other  side  fought  shy  of  this,  as  indeed 
they  always  did,  where  possible,  of  all  such  meetings.  It 
was  quite  understood  on  these  occasions  that  the  Radical 
leaders  present  would  be  considered  somewhat  in  the  light  of 
hostages  against  a  repetition  of  the  Cainhoy  affair,  and  a 
meaning  glance,  a  tap  on  the  butt  of  a  pistol  exhibited,  and 


140  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  remark,  "It  looks  squally.    If  I  go,  you  go  too,"  have  been 
known  to  induce  the  party  addressed  to  quiet  his  followers. 

All  through  this  campaign  there  were  none  more  resolute, 
untiring  and  courageous  than  the  women.  From  the  moment 
that  Hampton's  name  was  first  flashed  through  the  land  as 
leader,  until  he  was  recognized  as  Governor  at  Washington 
and  the  troops  withdrawn,  their  enthusiasm  knewr  no  abate- 
ment and  their  efficient  work  no  cessation. 

One  of  the  last  great  political  demonstrations  of  the  cam- 
paign was  a  notable  celebration,  a  procession  in  Charleston 
on  October  30,  led  by  General  Hampton  accompanied  by 
Senator  Gordon  of  Georgia.  All  business  was  suspended, 
stores  and  houses  flamed  in  welcoming  bunting  and  banners, 
streets  and  residences  along  the  route  were  crammed  with 
white  and  black  spectators  cheering,  while  many  hundred 
horsemen  in  column  of  twos,  generally  in  red  shirts,  and  a 
large  number  of  negroes,  red-shirted  and  mounted  on  mules, 
and  thousands  on  foot  marched  to  the  music  of  the  "Con- 
quering Hero,"  and  similar  strains.  On  an  impressionable 
race,  and  one  with  strong  reversionary,  spectacular  instincts, 
like  the  negro,  a  sight  of  this  kind  has  a  great  effect,  and  that, 
of  course,  was  the  motive  for  this  display  of  strength. 

It  was  from  Charleston  at  this  time  that  General  Hampton 
sent,  by  invitation,  a  letter  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  which 
that  journal  published,  as  it  said,  "in  justice  to  an  honorable, 
brave  gentleman."  The  letter  denied  every  charge  that  the 
Governor  had  made  about  the  existence  of  "domestic  vio- 
lence," need  of  "troops"  to  preserve  order,  and  other  similar 
matters,  and  gave  a  dispassionate  statement  of  the  situation, 
which  effected  much  good  in  the  country. 

A  sufficiently  accurate  picture  of  the  situation  in  South 
Carolina  during  the  decade  preceding  the  events  just  related, 
has  been  furnished  in  the  quotations  given  from  Mr.  Pike  and 
Mr.  Chamberlain.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  remind  the 
reader  of  the  disagreeable  details.  He  will  remember  that 
everything  which  negro  supremacy  under  the  direction  of 
carpet-bag  guidance,  backed  up  by  the  unstinted  assistance 
of  the  Federal  administration  during  the  last  eight  years, 
could  do,  had  been  done  to  break  up  civil  society  and  resolve 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  141 

it  into  its  elements.  Legislatures,  Governors,  and  State 
officers  existed  only  in  name,  and  for  the  purpose  of  enriching 
themselves  by  plunder  under  the  forms  of  law.  Life  and 
property,  so  far  from  being  protected  by  their  nominal  guard- 
ians, found  their  greatest  danger  from  these  sources.  The 
courts  were  notoriously  corrupt  and  incompetent,  crime 
under  ordinary  circumstances  unpunished,  and  pardons,  like 
cotton,  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  Elections  were  a  farce, 
through  the  power  exercised  by  the  existing  government  of 
fraudulently  miscounting  votes  and  stuffing  the  ballot  boxes. 
And  now,  after  ten  years  of  steadily  increasing,  almost  in- 
credible evils,  the  white  population  found  itself  pitted 
against  the  whole  force  of  the  State  and  Federal  power  in  an 
election,  which  anyone  unacquainted  with  the  situation 
would  have  considered  hopeless,  and  yet  which  the  "Con- 
servatives" felt  confident  of  winning.  Why  should  this  have 
been  so?  How  could  it  have  been  thus?  One  would  have 
supposed  that  the  disintegration  of  society  would  have  been 
so  complete,  that  the  disorganized  units  would  have  been  so 
scattered  and  remained  in  such  hopeless,  listless,  segrega- 
tion, that  emigration  from  the  State  by  the  respectable  part 
of  the  population  would  have  left  it  within  those  ten  years  as 
a  hybrid  community  of  the  "carpet-bagger"  and  the  negro. 
Yet  so  far  was  this  from  being  the  result,  so  all  powerful  was 
the  centripetal  force  in  the  nature  of  the  white  race,  so  in- 
destructible the  cohesive  power  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  people, 
that,  amid  this  "darkest  Africa,"  and  because  of  it,  they 
were  solidified — instead  of  being  disrupted — and  within  their 
phalanx  preserved  the  substance  of  civilization  and  main- 
tained religion  and  letters  and  the  amenities  of  life.  With- 
out police  or  militia,  and  worse  than  without  them,  they 
individually  armed  and  organized.  By  the  compelling  will 
of  an  able  bar  and  the  momentum  of  long  established  usages, 
the  machinery  of  the  Courts  was  made  to  serve  after  a  fashion 
for  ordinary  business  between  man  and  man,  where  the 
negro  and  carpet-bagger  were  not  concerned.  Social  inter- 
course went  on  almost  as  usual.  Commercial  transactions, 
though  greatly  hampered,  pursued  the  customary  routine 
and  farmers  raised  their  crops  for  market.  There  was 


142  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

marrying  and  giving  in  marriage.  More  than  this:  the 
necessities  of  the  times  drew  out  men  of  brains,  courage,  and 
energy  from  their  firesides,  men  who  had  never  held  office, 
and  looked  down  upon  it  as  an  avocation,  and  thus  was  given 
to  the  community  when  the  Hampton  regim^  came  such  a 
number  of  efficient  public  officers  as  it  had  rarely  before  pos- 
sessed. Why  was  all  this  so?  The  answer  is,  because  of  the 
centripetal  force,  the  cohesive  tendency,  the  cooperative 
hand-grasp  of  the  principle  of  representative  government. 
It  is  in  the  life-blood  of  our  race,  an  ineradicable  instinct. 
Fling  such  a  people  upon  a  new  desert  continent  entirely 
separated  for  a  century  to  come  from  all  intercourse  with  the 
outside  world,  and  after  that  interval  you  would  find  a 
community  equal  to  their  fellowmen  in  civilization,  though 
it  may  be  with  different  ideals.  But  subject  an  equal  num- 
ber of  educated  negroes  of  unmixed  blood  to  the  same 
experiment,  and  long  before  the  end  of  the  century  we  should 
find  the  Guinea-coast  race  duplicated.  If  it  has  required 
several  centuries  beyond  a  thousand  years,  assuming  repre- 
sentative government  to  have  had  its  origin  in  the  feudal  sys- 
tem, and  with  a  receptive  race,  for  it  to  acquire  its  present 
fruition  with  us,  how  many  thousands  of  years  will  be  neces- 
sary for  the  negro,  with  no  hereditary  aptitude  and  strong 
reversionary  tendencies,  to  become  imbued  with  even  the 
elementary  principles  of  civil  liberty? 

The  State  and  Federal  elections  took  place  on  Novem- 
ber 7. 

Throughout  the  rural  districts  the  negroes  came  in  mar- 
shaled masses,  and  were  voted  by  their  leaders  like  so  many 
sheep.  They  could  very  rarely  read  the  tickets,  but  obedi- 
ently took  what  were  handed  them.  The  chances  for  cheating 
in  their  votes  were  much  greater  than  for  whites,  and  they 
are  past-masters  in  repeating,  as  they  are  very  difficult  of 
identification,  being  generally  so  much  alike  in  appearance. 
Favorite  weapons  with  them,  where  they  had  not  guns,  were 
clubs  through  the  ends  of  which  were  driven  large  nails,  or 
spikes  projecting  on  each  side,  which  resembled  those  used 
by  their  African  ancestors,  and  were  probably  the  result 
of  reversionary  recollection.  In  Charleston  the  streets, 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  143 

especially  near  the  polling  booths,  swarmed  all  day  with  hun- 
dreds of  negro  deputy  sheriffs  and  United  States  marshals, 
with  badges  indicating  their  office,  armed  with  ferocious- 
looking  sticks,  and  generally  with  pistols  concealed  beneath 
their  clothes,  and  plentifully  supplied  with  liquor.  No  Dem- 
ocratic negro  could  be  got  to  the  polls,  unless  well  guarded : 
otherwise  these  deputies  of  the  marshal  would  beat  and  chase 
him  away.  In  fact  throughout  the  campaign  the  cruelties 
exercised  or  incited  against  negro  Democrats  by  the  marshal 
or  his  deputies  were  revolting.  There  were  enrolled  in  negro 
Democratic  clubs  alone  some  eight  thousand  members,  and 
this  excited  great  indignation  among  the  "trooly  loil."  Be- 
cause of  the  urgent  need  of  securing  the  electoral  vote,  the 
means  practised  were  more  extreme  as  time  went  on.  There 
were  no  collisions  of  consequence,  however,  not  as  many 
probably  as  took  place  on  the  same  day  in  most  other  States. 
The  order  and  discipline  maintained  among  the  whites  were 
complete,  and  the  absence  of  disturbances  was  entirely  due  to 
their  self-restraint. 

I  relate  the  following  incident  because  it  illustrates  "intim- 
idation" within  my  own  actual  experience ;  not  only  that,  but 
official  intimidation,  that  is  to  say,  intimidation  by  United 
States  civil  officers  acting  in  their  official  capacity  and  em- 
ployed so  to  act.  Of  course  there  were  hundreds  of  similar 
instances. 

On  the  morning  of  the  election  day  a  negro,  whom  I  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  employing  from  time  to  time  as  a  boat- 
man on  shooting  excursions  to  islands  not  far  from  the  city, 
came  to  me  with  the  information  that  he  had  twelve  negroes 
well  in  hand  who  wished  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  pro- 
vided I  personally  guaranteed  their  protection.  This  I  prom- 
ised. Isaac — this  was  the  name  of  my  man — "had  a  story," 
several  of  them,  probably.  I  had  missed  him  at  one  time  for 
about  a  year,  and  on  again  coming  across  him,  inquired  where 
he  had  been  in  the  interval. 

"Bin  in  Columbia,  Boss,"  said  he,  as  airily  as  a  young  lady 
might  tell  of  her  return  from  her  first  European  trip. 

"Ah,  you  have  been  working  up  there,  eh?" 


144  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

"Not  wukin'  thar,  Boss,"  said  he,  proudly ;  "bin  in  de  peni- 
tentiary, but  dey  tu'n  me  loose  now." 

"You  have  been  there?     And  what  for?" 

"Jist  'case  I  killed  another  nigger  on  Jim  Island." 

"What  did  you  do  that  for?" 

"You  see,  Boss," — with  a  lamb-like  look — "we  was  a'ter  de 
same  gal." 

As  there  was  only  a  lady  in  the  case,  I  added  my  "pa'don" 
to  that  of  the  Governor,  and  took  Isaac  back  into  my  good 
graces,  for  he  was  reliable  when  not  drunk — which  he  usually 
was — and  he  had  always  been  honest. 

Three  of  my  friends  offered  to  go  with  me  to  the  polls  to 
protect  my  voters.  So  we  put  the  twelve  in  column  of  fours, 
with  the  odd  one,  Isaac,  behind  (this  position  was  assigned 
him  at  his  earnest  request) .  One  of  us  went  in  front,  one  in 
the  rear,  and  one  on  each  flank,  and  started  with  our  voters, 
who  were  well  primed  with  "Dutch  courage,"  for  the  polls. 
Thirteen  is  said  to  be  an  unlucky  number,  and  it  proved  so 
in  this  case.  All  went  well,  our  black  army  as  bold  as 
Nubian  lions,  until  we  came  within  about  a  hundred  yards  of 
the  booths;  and  then  a  change  came  over  the  spirit  of  their 
dream.  They  were  spied  by  the  United  States  Deputy  Mar- 
shals (all  negroes),  conspicuous  by  official  badges,  armed 
with  formidable  clubs,  and  known  to  have  concealed  weapons. 
These  swarmed  around  us,  brandishing  their  barbaric  clubs, 
and  filling  the  air  with  blasphemy  and  threats.  We  paid  no 
attention  whatever  to  their  demonstrations,  ignoring  them 
altogether,  and  marching  silently  on.  Not  so  our  negroes. 
They  were  perfectly  safe,  covered  by  us,  could  not  be  got  at 
except  through  us,  and  the  first  attempt  at  that  would  have 
been  effctually  quelled  by  our  "peace-makers,"  for  then  the 
moment  would  have  come  when  endurance  would  have  ceased 
to  be  a  virtue.  But  our  Nubian  lions  had  been  transformed 
into  lambs.  Their  faces  turned  from  black  to  greenish,  yel- 
lowish, hideous  hue,  their  sign  of  terror.  However,  we  got 
our  black  Macedonian  phalanx  (nearly  all  of  it)  almost  to 
the  booths,  when  our  intended  voters  could  stand  it  no  longer, 
broke  and  incontinently  fled,  headed  by  Isaac,  at  a  pace  that 
would  have  distanced  a  professional  sprinter ;  then  the  United 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  145 

States  Deputy  Marshals  fled  in  the  opposite  direction.  This, 
it  will  be  remembered,  occurred  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1876, 
in  the  centennial  year  of  independence,  of  independence  from 
tyranny,  under  representative  government  so-called,  when 
the  slogan  of  the  anti-Lincoln  faction,  employing  these  very 
officials  for  the  purpose  of  intimidating  voters,  was  "a  free 
ballot  and  a  fair  count." 

The  returns  were  coming  in  all  night,  and  as  the  telegrams 
were  posted  on  the  newspaper  bulletin-boards,  the  probability 
of  the  success  of  the  State  and  Federal  Conservative  tickets 
gradually  became  a  conviction,  and  the  joy  was  very  great. 
At  the  North  also  the  election  of  the  Democratic  Presidential 
ticket  was  at  first  conceded  by  most  of  the  Kepublican  press, 
as  it  would  have  required  the  electoral  votes  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Louisiana,  and  Florida  to  elect  Hayes,  and  all  those 
States  showed  on  the  returns  Tilden  majorities.  But  almost 
immediately  a  claim  to  Republican  electors  in  the  three  States 
States  named  was  made,  and  measures  were  pressed  to  obtain 
them  through  the  returning  boards.  On  the  following  day, 
that  succeeding  the  election,  the  riots  were  started  in  Charles- 
ton which  have  been  referred  to  in  a  former  page  of  this  nar- 
rative. They  were  apparently  not  accidental,  for  all  the 
circumstantial  evidence  would  point  to  design,  and  the  fact 
that  no  riots  took  place  on  election  day,  and  not  until  the 
following  day,  after  it  had  been  determined  by  Republican 
headquarters  at  the  North  to  claim  the  electoral  vote  through 
the  returning  board,  adds  to  the  weight  of  the  other  indica- 
tions. Riots  were  started  at  several  points  in  Charleston, 
but  the  principal  attempt  took  place  on  Broad  street  about 
three  hundred  yards  from  where  the  police  headquarters  then 
were,  on  the  site  of  the  present  postoffice.  About  fifty  or 
more  men  were  near  the  bulletin-board  of  The  News  and 
Courier,,  when  an  attack  was  attempted  upon  them  from  the 
direction  of  the  police  headquarters,  the  party  being  com- 
posed altogether  of  negroes,  who  were  believed  to  be  the  same 
as  those  acting  as  United  States  deputy  marshals  the  day 
before.  At  the  first  intimation  that  the  attack  was  to  be 
made,  a  negro  policeman,  standing  in  the  crowd  about  the 
bulletin-board,  fired  his  pistol  twice  among  the  bystanders, 


146  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  then  fled  down  a  narrow  street  running  at  right 
angles,  and  thus  escaped.  No  one  was  hit  by  his  shots, 
strange  to  say.  His  conduct  was  supposed  to  be  the  result  of 
previous  knowledge  of  the  intended  attack.  The  attack  was 
repelled  by  the  foremost  of  the  by-standers,  without  any 
serious  harm  to  either  side,  as  far  as  known,  and  after  that, 
but  not  until  the  street  was  clear  of  rioters,  a  large  squad  of 
policemen  emerged  from  headquarters,  and  marched  down 
the  street  in  the  direction  of  the  bulletin-board  with  rifles  at 
the  "charge  bayonets."  There  would  certainly  have  been 
bloodshed,  for  the  by-standers  were  in  no  mood  to  submit 
to  this  proceeding,  when  two  mounted  men,  dispatched 
from  "Conservative"  headquarters,  galloped  ahead  of  the 
police  column,  thus  reaching  the  crowd  before  the  latter  could 
come  up  and  vehemently  impressed  upon  every  one  Hamp- 
ton's orders  to  avoid  at  all  hazards  a  conflict  with  the  police, 
which  would  be  used  as  a  pretext  for  violence,  and  therefore 
do  harm  in  regard  to  election  returns.  The  principal  rifle 
clubs  at  once  assembled  at  their  club  rooms.  Colonel  Hunt, 
commanding  the  United  States  troops  in  the  place,  was  com- 
municated with,  and  turned  out  his  men  to  clear  the  streets 
of  all  rioters  and  vagrant  negroes,  and  invited  the  com- 
mander of  a  rifle  club  to  have  his  men  fall  in  at  the  rear  of  the 
Federal  column  and  thus  march  through  the  town,  which 
was  done.  This  had  a  wonderfully  quieting  effect  upon  the 
negroes,  as  it  demonstrated  to  them  that  the  white  popula- 
tion and  the  troops  were  fraternizing  for  the  sake  of  order, 
while  they  had  been  told  by  their  leaders  to  expect  support 
from  the  troops.  It  also  very  much  incensed  "Carpet-bagger" 
Worthington,  Radical  Collector  of  the  Port,  who  protested 
against  it,  until  silenced  by  the  firm,  dignified  reply  of  the 
Colonel.  Worthington,  however,  reported  to  Washington, 
and  Colonel  Hunt  was  within  a  few  days,  removed  from  com- 
mand, but  his  conduct  doubtless  saved  bloodshed  and,  as 
the  electoral  vote  of  the  State  was  eventually  secured,  the 
parties  who  planned  the  affair,  when  reason  returned  after 
all,  must  have  been  glad  that  he  acted  as  he  did.  During  that 
night  the  city  was  safe-guarded  by  foot  and  mounted  patrols 
of  the  clubs  and  the  troops. 


HAMPTON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR  147 

As  we  have  said,  Colonel  Hunt  was  removed  from  command 
in  South  Carolina  and  transferred  elsewhere  at  Worthing- 
ton's  instance.  Hunt  was  a  Colonel  in  the  regular  army,  but 
had  the  rank  of  general  of  volunteers  during  the  war,  and 
was,  I  think,  at  this  time  brevet  brigadier  general.  He  had 
been  in  the  army  all  of  his  life,  had  married  in  army  circles, 
and  most  of  his  associations  were  there.  He  neither  pos- 
sessed nor  desired  political  "pull."  At  Gettysburg  and  on 
other  fields  he  had  performed  most  gallant  service  with  the 
artillery  and  was,  withal,  socially  and  professionally,  a  man 
of  the  very  highest  character.  He  had  made  a  report  on 
November  27  of  his  service  in  South  Carolina,  including 
the  riots  of  November  8  in  Charleston,  but  this  report  the 
public  never  saw  until  late  in  January — too  late  to  injure  the 
politicians — and  presumably  it  would  never  have  seen  the 
light  at  all  had  it  not  been  for  Hunt's  causing  it  to  be  made 
public,  as  a  vindication  of  his  conduct.  In  this  report — 
which  is  a  long  one,  entering  into  details — he  says  that  the 
only  disturbers  of  the  peace  during  his  command  were  Re- 
publican negroes  and  that  Worthington  circulated  false 
reports  among  them  in  order  to  inflame  them  to  riot. 

I  think  anyone,  who  will  study  this  subject,  or  who  will 
even  dispassionately  read  this  narrative,  will  be  compelled  to 
come  to  the  conclusion,  as  I  have  reluctantly  been  compelled 
to  do,  that  there  was  a  deliberate  plot  at  the  commencement 
of,  and  throughout  the  campaign  of  1876  in  South  Carolina, 
by  the  Radical  leaders  there  to  stir  up  bloodshedding  by  the 
negroes,  which  being  resisted  from  motives  of  self-preserva- 
tion by  the  white  population,  would  enable  the  Radical 
leaders  to  flood  the  State  with  United  States  troops,  embroil 
the  whites  with  them  and  the  Washington  administration, 
and  thus  render  easy  the  prevention  of  the  canvass  on  the 
part  of  the  "Conservatives,"  and  I  am  also  compelled  to 
admit,  that  there  is  the  best  of  reason  for  believing  that 
some  of  the  principal  leaders  at  the  North  of  the  party  then 
in  power  were  fully  privy  to  this  plot.  This  is  a  grave  charge, 
for  it  was  a  horrible  thing  to  have  done,  and  no  one  is  more 
averse  than  the  writer  to  be  forced,  by  knowledge  of  facts, 
to  believe  it. 


148  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

CHAPTER  SIXTH 

THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  OF  HAMPTON 

God  Is  our  guide, 

No  sword  we  draw, 

We  kindle  not  War's  battle-fires, 

By  union,  justice,  reason,  law, 

We  claim  the  birth-right  of  our  sires 

By  law  it  was  allotted  to  the  Board  of  Canvassers  of  the 
State  to  examine  the  returns  and  certify  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  the  sealed  returns  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor,  and  who  by  the  face  of  the  returns  were  elected  State 
Senators  and  Representatives.  But  the  Board  had  no  right 
to  go  behind  the  returns,  the  two  houses  of  the  Legislature 
being  the  exclusive  judges  of  the  election  of  their  own  mem- 
bers, and,  after  organizing  in  joint  session,  were  to  pass 
upon  and  declare  the  election  of  Governor  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor.  But  in  this  election,  three  of  the  five  members 
composing  the  Board  of  Canvassers  were  candidates  for 
reelection,  and  were  therefore  admittedly  disqualified  from 
canvassing  any  of  the  votes,  all  the  State  candidates  at  that 
time  being  voted  for  on  one  ticket. 

The  votes  by  law  were  to  be  and  had  been  counted  pub- 
licly immediately  after  the  closing  of  the  polls  by  the  pre- 
cinct managers  (two  Republicans  and  one  Democrat),  who 
then  and  there  made  statements  of  the  results,  and  forwarded 
them  to  the  Board  of  County  Managers,  who  from  these  state- 
ments made  the  proper  County  statements,  and  forwarded 
these  last,  along  with  the  precinct-managers'  returns,  the 
poll-lists,  and  all  papers  appertaining  to  the  election,  to  the 
Board  of  State  Canvassers.  It  goes  without  saying,  that  if 
it  were  left  to  the  Board  of  Canvassers  to  decide  protests, 
it  could,  and  would  "count  in"  whomsoever  it  chose,  with- 
out reference  to  the  votes  actually  cast.  This  was  the  way 
in  which  it  had  been  done  for  the  last  ten  years,  and  that 
was  the  programme  intended  by  this  Board,  which  was  quite 
as  bad  as  any  of  the  preceding  ones.  Of  course  this  had  been 
foreseen  and  provided  against,  for  otherwise  the  whole  elec- 
tion would  have  been  simply  a  farce.  Congress,  with  a  loud 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  149 

guffaw,  had  passed  the  Reconstruction  Acts  intended  to  give 
a  "solid  South"  forever  to  the  party  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  and 
Morton,  but  he  laughs  best  who  laughs  last,  and  the  time  was 
coming  for  this  latter  laugh. 

On  the  grounds  above  mentioned,  the  intervention  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  was  obtained.  But  with  the  cor- 
ruption and  incompetency  pervading  the  State  Government, 
it  may  well  be  asked  how  relief  in  the  direction  of  justice  was 
to  be  looked  for  from  the  Supreme  Court.  It  was  for  this 
reason.  The  Court  was  composed  of  three  members,  Chief 
Justice  Moses,  Mr.  Willard,  and  a  negro,  Wright,  who  had 
come  early  in  "Reconstruction"  from  Massachusetts. 

P.  J.  Moses  was  a  Republican,  it  is  true,  and  could  not 
otherwise  have  obtained  the  official  position  which  he  held. 
Though  the  presumption  of  respectability  would  not  be  in 
those  times  in  South  Carolina  in  favor  of  a  resident  mem- 
ber of  that  party,  yet  there  were  reasons  why  his  was  an 
exceptional  case.  He  had  accepted  the  position,  in  large 
measure,  to  prevent  it  from  falling  into  worse  hands,  and 
had  in  this  the  approval  of  the  bar.  He  came  of  a  family 
long  and  favorably  known  in  the  State.  His  great  misfor- 
tune, for  which  he  merited  pity,  not  obloquy,  was  being  the 
father  of  the  notorious  man  who  had  been  one  of  the  Recon- 
struction Governors.  The  family  of  General  Hampton  had 
been  looked  up  to  with  great  respect  and  consideration  in 
the  community  for  a  hundred  years  and  more,  and  Moses 
considered  himself  under  obligations  to  Colonel  Wade  Hamp- 
ton, the  father  of  the  General,  and  for  the  latter  personally 
had  a  high  esteem  and  admiration.  In  the  contest  raging  in 
1876  the  side  of  right  and  the  side  of  wrong  could  not  be  in 
doubt  to  anyone  with  the  facts  daily  before  his  eyes.  More- 
over, Mr.  Moses  was  not  personally  on  good  terms  with  Mr. 
Chamberlain  and  his  followers.  From  this  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  Chief  Justice  could  be  counted  upon  in  the  present 
crisis  to  follow  the  only  course  open  to  him,  if  he  wished  to 
act  justly  and  honestly,  and  that  was  all  that  Hampton 
desired. 

Justice  Willard  had  come  to  the  State  from  the  North.  To 
better  his  condition  and  succeed  in  life  were  doubtless  his 


150  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

creditable  motives,  but  he  seems  to  have  come  with  honest 
intentions.  Imbued  with  the  belief  in  negro  poltical  equality, 
in  which  he  had  been  educated,  he  accepted  the  sequence  of 
the  blacks'  right  to  vote  and  thereby,  when  in  a  majority, 
their  right  to  rule.  But  when  these  theories  had  been  reduced 
to  practice,  and  the  deplorable  results  were  before  his  eyes 
every  day,  he  did  what  any  sane  and  honest  man  must  have 
done  under  like  circumstances:  he  changed  his  opinions. 
Moreover  he  had  a  summer  cottage  in  Cashier's  Valley, 
among  the  beautiful  Appalachians  of  North  Carolina,  near 
General  Hampton's  mountain  home,  and  here  sickness  had 
invaded  his  household.  It  is  a  good  old  Southern  custom, 
which  nothing  can  extirpate,  that  when  the  faintest  shadow 
of  the  wing  of  the  angel  of  death  darkens  a  home,  or 
threatens  an  individual,  not  only  is  the  bitterest  enemy  then 
in  the  sanctuary  of  the  temple,  but — far  more  than  that — all 
antecedents  are  at  once  forgotten,  and  human  sympathy, 
kindness,  and  help  are  poured  forth  unstintedly.  And  this 
happened  to  Willard  at  the  hands  of  General  Hampton  and 
his  family,  and,  fortunately  for  the  credit  of  men  and  women, 
such  things  are  not  easily  nor  quickly  forgotten.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  Willard  imbibed  that  personal  feeling 
toward  the  General  which  the  latter  had  the  faculty  of 
creating  in  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

The  third  member  of  the  Court  was  Wright,  who  was  a 
profligate,  ignorant  negro,  and,  as  long  as  their  money  lasted, 
to  be  counted  upon  to  do  the  bidding  of  his  Radical  masters, 
but  his  obstructive  part  in  dissenting  from  rulings  would  be 
practically  nullified  by  the  other  two  justices. 

The  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  was  against  the  Board 
of  Canvassers  (the  Returning  Board),  who  were  represented 
by  Corbin,  as  counsel,  although  he  was  at  this  time  United 
States  District  Attorney.  The  result  was  that  the  Court 
issued  a  mandamus  commanding  the  Board  of  Canvassers 
and  the  Secretary  of  State  to  declare  duly  elected  and  to 
issue  certificates  to  that  effect  to  those  who  had  received  by 
the  returns  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  the  offices  of 
State  Senators  and  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
This  would  enable  the  two  houses  to  meet  in  joint  session, 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  151 

and  open  the  sealed  votes  and  declare  the  election  of  Gover- 
nor and  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Hampton  party  having  a 
majority  of  one  on  joint  ballot  and  its  popular  majority  being 
over  twelve  hundred.  This  order  would  also  apply  to  the 
Congressmen  elected,  but  subject  to  contest  before  the  House, 
of  course.  The  Court  also  issued  another  order  to  the  Board 
having  reference  to  the  votes  for  Presidential  electors,  which 
in  effect  would  compel  the  Board  to  bring  into  court  its 
report  on  the  votes  for  electors,  with  all  official  papers  and 
documents  relating  to  them,  thus  making  it  possible  for  a  just 
result  to  be  arrived  at  by  the  Court,  and  a  declaration  of  elec- 
tion and  corresponding  certificates  to  be  ordered  issued  by 
the  Board.  But  the  Board  had  a  member  present  in  court  on 
watch  and  got  wind  of  the  issuance  of  these  orders  before 
the  official  papers  could  reach  them,  and  at  once  adjourned 
sine  die,  thus  ending  finally,  as  claimed,  their  functions  and 
existence  as  a  Board.  Before  doing  so,  however,  they  threw 
out  the  returns  from  Edgefield  and  Laurens  counties,  and 
issued  certificates  for  the  Legislature  and  Presidential 
electors,  based  upon  the  thus  fraudulently  mutilated  returns. 
This  would  have  given  a  majority  in  the  Legislature  to  the 
Radicals,  with  the  power  to  "count  in"  their  man  for  Gov- 
ernor, and  would  also  give  the  electors  to  Hayes.  It  was  a 
smart  attorney's  trick;  that  and  nothing  more.  The  Board 
could  not  terminate  its  existence,  and  at  the  same  time  per- 
petrate a  patent  fraud,  while  actually  in  the  hands  of  the 
Supreme  Court  supervising  its  action  with  the  view  of 
preventing  fraud.  It  was  a  bold  proceeding,  the  result  of 
desperation  and  confidence  of  immunity  from  punishment 
as  in  similar  cases  in  former  years,  and  in  accordance  with  a 
prearranged  plot.  Not  only  the  control  of  the  State  govern- 
ment, but  also  of  the  United  States  government  for  the  suc- 
ceeding four  years,  was  trembling  in  the  balance.  The  temp- 
tation was  great  and  the  telegrams  from  Washington  impera- 
tive, and  support  from  there  was  promised  and  given.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  Hampton  government  could  sustain  itself, 
and  with  it  the  Tilden  electors,  not  only  did  political  ruin 
stare  in  the  face  the  South  Carolina  Radical  politicians,  but 
also  personal  ruin,  and  the  penitentiary  would  yawn  for 


152  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

many  of  them,  when  honest  courts  were  reestablished.  It 
is  no  wonder  then,  that  they  took  this,  and  subsequent  des- 
perate risks,  for  their  game  now  made  this  course  the  lesser 
peril  to  them.  And  the  plight  of  the  Northern  politicians  was 
little  less  critical,  as  far  as  their  political  life  was  concerned, 
and  they  could  be  counted  upon  for  seconding  their  Radical 
workers  in  the  State  without  inconvenient  scrupulousness  as 
to  means. 

When  the  Supreme  Court  was  apprised  of  the  conduct  of 
the  Board  of  Canvassers  it  imprisoned  all  the  members  for 
contempt  and  subjected  them  to  fines.  Judge  Bond  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  had,  however,  found  it  con- 
venient to  be  in  Columbia  at  this  time,  although  he  had  no 
business  to  transact  there  until  a  week  or  more  later.  He  at 
once  issued  an  order  releasing  the  Board  from  custody.  His 
Court  was  entirely  without  jurisdiction  in  the  premises,  the 
matter  being  exclusively  between  the  State  and  its  own 
officers.  This  was  so  clear  that  he  never  even  attempted  a 
justification,  or  excuse  for  his  conduct.  It  was  on  the  face 
of  it  a  mere  political  move,  entirely  outside  of  law,  and  quite 
on  the  plane  of  the  order  of  Judge  Durell  in  New  Orleans 
against  the  McEnery  government,  the  only  excuse  attempted 
for  which  was  a  very  shady  one,  the  alleged  drunkenness  of 
the  Judge.  But  no  explanation  at  all  was  vouchsafed  by 
Judge  Bond,  and  his  illegal  act  served  to  prevent  the  Supreme 
Court  from  compelling  the  Board  of  Canvassers  to  perform 
its  duty  under  the  supervision  of  the  Court. 

As  for  the  consummated  plot  of  the  Board  of  Canvassers,  it 
was  construed  to  stand  for  the  action  of  the  State  in  regard  to 
the  Presidential  electors,  and  consequently  made  Hayes  Pres- 
ident. That  is  not  an  exhilarating  thought  for  a  patriotic 
American.  A  State  by  the  grace  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  and 
Morton,  unable,  by  the  assertions  of  its  own  Governor,  to 
perform  any  of  the  functions  of  government,  or  to  exist  at 
all  unless  sustained  by  Federal  bayonets :  a  Returning  Board 
chiefly  of  negroes,  notoriously  corrupt  and  guilty  of  a  trick 
devised  for  it  by  others  equally  corrupt  but  abler  than  it, 
which  consigned  its  members  to  jail ;  a  Federal  Judge  block- 
ing the  wheels  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  a  Republican  majority 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  153 

on  the  Electoral  Commission  declaring  the  action  of  the 
Board  valid  on  the  strictest  of  "States'  Eights"  technicalities, 
contrary  to  the  merits  of  the  case,  and  the  will  of  the  people — 
this  was  surely  a  curiosity  of  politics. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  trouble  loomed  ahead  in  the 
counting  by  the  two  houses  of  Congress  of  the  electoral  votes. 
There  were  two  sets  of  returns  from  each  of  the  States  of 
South  Carolina,  Florida,  and  Louisiana,  and  a  disputed  vote 
from  Oregon.  It  was  necessary  for  all  these  to  be  counted  for 
Hayes,  if  he  were  to  be  declared  elected.  The  Democrats  had 
the  House,  the  ^Republicans  the  Senate  and  President,  and 
"South  American  methods"  were  consequently  feared  by  the 
country.  The  Democrats,  thinking  their  case  safe,  as  any 
one  point  decided  in  their  favor  would  give  them  the  Presi- 
dency, consented  to  the  Electoral  Commission  Act,  by  which 
ten  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  representing  equally 
both  parties,  and  four  designated  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  also  equally  divided  politically,  with  power  to  choose 
a  fifth  from  the  members  of  the  Court,  should  decide  all 
disputed  points.  This  was  a  revolutionary  proceeding,  but 
was  done  doubtless  for  the  best,  and  to  prevent  a  possible 
recourse  to  force  to  solve  the  riddle.  But  the  Democrats  were 
out-generaled — not  for  the  first  time  nor  the  last  time.  It 
was  understood  that  Judge  David  Davis  would  be  the  fifth 
member  chosen  on  the  Commission  from  the  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  had  been  a  Kepublican  of  the  Lincoln 
school,  but  had  not  gone  with  the  new  ways  of  the  party  of 
Stevens  and  Grant,  and  would  certainly  not  have  ruled  all 
points  in  favor  of  the  latter,  and  would  have  been,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  umpire,  as  otherwise  the  Commission  stood  seven  of 
each  party.  Had  he  been  on  the  Commission,  Tilden  would 
have  been  President.  But  either  the  Democrats  were  incred- 
ibly stupid,  or  else  there  was  bad  faith  .somewhere,  for  on 
January  25,  after  the  bill  had  passed  the  Senate  and  the  day 
before  it  passed  the  House,  the  Democrats  in  the  Illinois 
Legislature  elected  Mr.  Davis  United  States  Senator,  and  he, 
accepting  the  position  of  Senator-elect,  resigned  his  judge- 
ship  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not,  under  the  circum- 
stances, honorably  serve  on  the  Commission,  as  presumably  a 


154  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

partizan.  This  resulted  in  the  appointment  to  the  decisive 
position  on  the  Commission  of  Justice  Bradley,  who,  when 
the  time  came,  cast  his  vital  vote  invariably  in  favor  of  his 
party,  thus  giving  Hayes  the  Presidency  on  "eight  to  seven" 
votes  on  each  occasion,  as  the  points  came  up.  The  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  proved  just  as  good  party  men  as  any 
other  politicians  could  possibly  have  done,  but  the  fact  of  the 
majority  deciding  the  vital  points  on  the  "States'  Rights" 
principle  cannot  but  be  deemed  a  little  refreshing  by  pos- 
terity, considering  the  source  from  which  this  reversionary 
impulse  so  suddenly  came,  for  they  were  not  before  that  time 
credited  with  having  sat  at  the  feet  of  Calhoun,  nor  were  they 
afterward. 

The  Board  of  Canvassers  had,  at  a  former  stage  of  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  Supreme  Court,  made  a  report  to  the  Court 
of  the  members-elect  of  the  Legislature  according  to  the  face 
of  the  returns,  and  this  was  matter  of  record.  As  the  Board 
had  failed  to  comply  with  the  further  orders  of  the  Court, 
and  had  ceased  to  exist  by  Judge  Bond's  action,  it  necessarily 
devolved  upon  the  Court  to  perfect  their  duties  left  unper- 
formed. The  Court  consequently  ordered  its  clerk  to  give 
certificates  of  election  to  the  eight  members  from  the  Coun- 
ties of  Edgefield  and  Laurens,  shown  to  have  been  elected 
according  to  the  returns.  With  these  and  the  members  certi- 
fied by  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Conservatives  had  a 
majority  in  the  House,  and  a  majority  of  one  on  joint  ballot 
with  the  Senate. 

On  November  28  the  Legislature  wras  to  meet.  But  two 
days  before  that  time  Secretary  of  War  J.  D.  Cameron,  in 
accordance  with  orders  received  by  him  from  the  Executive, 
ordered  General  Ruger,  then  at  Columbia,  to  "sustain"  Mr. 
Chamberlain  as  Governor  "until  a  new  Governor  shall  be 
duly  and  legally  inaugurated  under  the  Constitution.  The 
Government  had  been  called  upon  to  aid  with  the  military 
and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to  maintain  Republican 
government  in  the  State  against  resistance  too  formidable  to 
be  overcome  by  the  State  authorities.  You  are  directed 
therefore  to  sustain  Governor  Chamberlain  in  his  authority 
against  domestic  violence  until  otherwise  directed."  General 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  155 

Kuger  was  ordered  "to  advise  with  the  Governor  and  dispose 
your  troops  in  such  manner  as  may  be  deemed  best." 

These  are  plain  words  with  a  clearly  defined  meaning  and 
purpose.  "The  Government  has  been  called  upon  to  main- 
tain Eepublican  government";  by  whom  called  upon?  By 
Mr.  Chamberlain,  claiming  to  have  been  reflected,  and  by 
such  men  as  Patterson,  the  "carpet-bag"  Senator  from  the 
State,  a  man  admittedly  a  thief  and,  what  is  worse  even,  not 
ashamed  of  it.  "Against  resistance"?  Kesistance  from 
whom?  Not  only  had  General  Hampton,  whose  word  no  one 
doubted,  and  the  Democratic  Executive  Committee,  composed 
of  citizens  of  the  highest  character,  and  Senators  from  New 
Jersey  and  Georgia,  then  at  Columbia,  and  many  others, 
denied  vehemently  in  telegrams  and  letters  the  existence,  or 
danger  of  "violence"  or  "resistance";  but  so  would,  or  had, 
every  other  responsible  man  in  the  State  cognizant  of  the 
situation.  Not  only  so,  but  it  was  well  known,  that  Hamp- 
ton's policy  was  not  one  of  "resistance"  in  the  sense  of  force. 
There  could  not  possibly  have  been  any  mistake  or  misappre- 
hension. It  was  simply  an  attempt,  by  purely  "South  Ameri- 
can methods,"  to  set  up  a  usurping  State  government  and 
thus,  by  color  of  it,  to  increase  the  chances  of  securing  the 
electoral  vote,  and  inaugurating  a  Republican  President. 
And  we  shall  see  in  a  moment  that  the  programme  thus 
commenced  wras  carried  out  on  precisely  these  lines.  It  will 
not  serve  to  say,  "Let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead.  We  are 
now  a  reunited  country.  Do  not  open  old  sores."  It  is  not 
the  dead  past.  Precedents  are  never  dead,  but  always  live 
on  the  record,  vital,  abounding  in  strength,  ready  to  leap  into 
the  arena  unexpectedly,  armed  to  the  teeth,  strenuous,  with 
drawn  sword.  History  is  "philosophy  teaching  by  example," 
or,  better  expressed,  is  common  sense  teaching  by  prece- 
dents. What  happened  once  may  happen  again,  if  unheeded, 
and  next  time,  perhaps,  in  Massachusetts  or  Ohio.  There  are 
many  "burning  questions"  that  will  be  coming  to  the  front 
at  the  North,  and  the  South  has  yet  her  "racial  question"  to 
be  tinkered  with,  at  least  a  question  made  artificially  "racial" 
by  the  effects  of  the  Reconstruction  Acts  and  the  Amend- 
ments and  outside  misguided  interference  with  a  conscien- 
tious people's  best  endeavors. 


156  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

On  the  evening  of  November  27,  the  State  Capitol  was 
seized  by  troops  under  General  Ruger's  orders,  as  directed 
by  Chamberlain.  All  semblance  of  civil  government  was  thus 
destroyed. 

At  twelve  o'clock  on  November  28,  the  "Conservative" 
(Democratic)  members  of  the  House,  accompanied  by  the 
Governor-elect,  Hampton,  went  together  to  the  State  House. 
After  some  little  delay  at  the  entrance,  they  were  admitted, 
and  proceeded  to  the  Representative  Hall,  intending  to  enter 
there  and  organize  in  accordance  with  law.  At  the  door  of 
the  Representative  Hall  these  representatives  of  the  people, 
acting  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  and  the  forms  of  repre- 
sentative government,  were  met  by  a  corporal  and  a  file  of 
United  States  troops  in  charge  of  persons  named  Dennis  and 
Jones,  deputed  for  the  purpose  by  Chamberlain.  This  Den- 
nis was  without  any  official  status,  a  "carpet-bagger"  of  very 
bad  character,  who  would  have  been  in  the  penitentiary  under 
normal  government.  This  individual  instructed  the  soldiers 
as  to  whom  they  were  to  admit  or  exclude.  The  way  was 
thus  barred  by  bayonets  against  the  representatives  from 
Edgefield  and  Laurens  Counties  bearing  the  certificates  of 
the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Upon  that  their  colleagues 
all  withdrew  from  the  chamber,  and  read  a  solemn  protest 
against  their  exclusion  by  military  force. 

When  apprised  of  what  had  occurred,  a  large  number  of 
citizens  from  the  town  and  adjacent  counties,  who  had  come 
to  witness  the  opening  of  the  Legislature,  became  wrought 
up  by  the  outrage  to  an  indescribable  state  of  excitement. 
They  were  not  at  all  a  mob  of  loafers  or  noisy  boys,  but  men 
of  all  ages  and  conditions,  sober-minded,  law-abiding,  God- 
fearing citizens,  who  "know  their  rights,  and  knowing  dared 
maintain,"  the  bone,  muscle,  and  brains  of  the  community, 
farmers,  merchants,  artizans,  lawyers,  and  physicians.  For 
ten  long,  weary,  bitter  years  they  had  been  ground  down 
under  the  heel  nominally  of  negro  supremacy,  but  in  fact 
by  "carpet-baggers"  supported  by  Washington;  they  had 
been  impoverished  and  insulted  by  thieves;  harried  and 
maltreated  by  troops  and  deputy  marshals;  the  demon  of 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  157 

the  "nameless  crime,"  unknown  before,  created  by  legisla- 
tion in  their  midst,  and  lynching,  the  only  punisher  in  the 
absence  of  courts  worthy  of  the  name,  let  loose  among  them. 
They  had  cried  aloud  to  God  in  their  agony  from  every 
church  in  the  State,  and  at  length  He  had  listened  to  their 
prayer,  and  led  by  the  greatest  man  who  had  ever  trod  the 
soil  of  their  State,  they  had,  against  tremendous  odds  of 
money  and  force  unscrupulously  used,  won  an  election,  which 
was  to  set  them  free.  But  now,  between  their  liberty  thus 
won  by  the  fair  agencies  of  representative  government,  is 
thrust  the  bayonet  of  military  power  directed  by  the  miser- 
able creature,  Dennis,  whom  no  honest  man  would  permit  in 
his  kitchen.  "South  American  methods"  are  substituted  for 
representative  government.  The  pent  up  indignation,  the 
righteous  indignation,  of  those  ten  years  was  seething  in  the 
veins  of  these  distinctively  American  men.  And  well  they 
knew  their  power,  and  that,  at  a  word  of  command  from 
Hampton,  the  Capitol  would  be  instantly  swept  clean  of  all 
intruders.  Armed,  as  always  necessary  in  those  times,  many 
of  them  practised  in  the  use  of  weapons  on  famous  Virginian 
fields,  they  awaited,  but  not  in  patience,  the  order  which 
their  hearts  craved,  and  the  murmur  of  the  coming  storm,  at 
first  faint,  like  distant  wind,  was  gradually  swelling  in 
volume.  The  stern  battle-scarred  faces  of  middle-aged  men, 
the  flushed  cheeks  of  boys,  the  unimpassioned  but  resolute 
features  of  the  old  were  there,  all  inspired  by  a  common 
feeling. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  sat  in  the  Governor's  private  room,  and 
by  his  side  General  Ruger;  they  heard  the  ominous  sound, 
and  negroes  now  tallow-colored  with  fear,  came  running  to 
tell  them  of  the  impending  danger.  The  Governor  had  "a 
very  unpleasant  quarter  of  an  hour,"  as  the  French  say,  only 
that  he  compressed  it  into  fewer  seconds.  At  his  suggestion, 
General  Kuger  ordered  an  officer  to  seek  out  General  Hamp- 
ton, and  request  of  him,  as  a  favor,  to  quiet  the  citizens.  It 
was  indeed  a  hard  thing  to  bring  one's  self  to  do — to  request 
Hampton  to  save  them — but  it  was  necessary,  and  they  swal- 
lowed it.  It  shows,  too,  what  perfect  confidence  they,  as 
every  one  else,  had  in  Hampton's  power  to  control  the  people, 


158  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  how  baseless  their  former  assertions  of  "domestic  vio- 
lence." 

Hampton  gravely  and  quietly  complied  with  the  request 
thus  reluctantly  wrung  from  the  Governor.  Walking  out 
upon  the  steps  of  the  Capitol,  he  addressed  the  people.  As  his 
grand,  noble  figure  towered  against  the  background  of  the 
stately  edifice,  complete  silence  fell  upon  the  assemblage  a 
second  before  surging  and  murmuring  in  storm.  The  people 
knew  not  what  his  coming  meant ;  it  might  be,  as  they  hoped, 
to  give  the  order  to  clear  the  State  House  of  usurpers,  and 
alert,  but  quiet,  they  grasped  their  weapons,  every  eye  among 
the  throng  fixed  on  his  face  in  mute  appeal  and  perfect  confi- 
dence. It  was  a  spectacle  to  witness,  the  "born  leader  of 
men"  at  a  momentous  crisis.  Once  witnessed,  you  would  have 
known  forever  that  there  is  a  mighty  psychic  power,  a  spir- 
itual overwhelming  force,  which  goes  out  from  the  soul  of 
one  man  in  a  supreme  moment,  mastering  the  wills  of  his 
fellowmen. 

The  words  which  he  spoke  were  few  and  simple,  with  no 
meretricious  rhetoric,  no  vulgar  attempt  at  oratory,  no 
catchy,  sensational  phrases.  They  were  only  the  calmly 
uttered  wise  words  of  a  leader  confident  of  himself  and  sure 
of  his  people.  He  said : 

"My  friends,  I  am  truly  doing  what  I  have  done  earnestly 
during  this  whole  exciting  contest — pouring  oil  upon  the 
troubled  waters.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  us  all,  as 
citizens  of  South  Carolina,  that  peace  should  be  preserved. 
I  appeal  to  you  all,  white  and  colored,  as  Carolinians,  to  use 
every  effort  to  keep  down  violence  or  turbulence.  One  act 
of  violence  may  precipitate  bloodshed  and  desolation.  I 
implore  you,  then,  to  preserve  the  peace.  I  beg  all  of  my 
friends  to  disperse,  to  leave  the  grounds  of  the  Capitol,  and 
advise  all  the  colored  men  to  do  the  same.  Keep  perfectly 
quiet,  leave  the  streets,  and  do  nothing  to  provoke  a  riot.  We 
trust  to  the  law  and  the  Constitution,  and  we  have  perfect 
faith  in  the  justice  of  our  cause.  I  have  been  elected  your 
Governor,  and,  so  help  me  God,  I  will  take  my  seat." 

As  I  have  said,  the  silence  had  been  profound  from  the 
moment  the  General  was  seen  on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol,  nor 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  159 

was  it  different  when  he  ceased  speaking,  except  that  one 
could  hear  the  muffled  tread  of  hundreds  retiring,  as  he  had 
requested  them  to  do,  without  a  word  spoken.  With  a  silent 
assent  and  obedience,  the  most  perfect  tribute  that  man  can 
pay  to  man,  that  crowd,  a  moment  before  so  fierce  and  threat- 
ening, melted  quietly  away,  like  little  children  sent  home 
from  school,  and  all  was  quiet  at  the  Capitol ;  peace  reigned, 
but  not  "the  peace  of  Warsaw" — the  peace  of  Hampton.  Not 
the  peace  of  "proclamations"  and  of  serried  ranks  of  troops 
marshaled  to  prevent  "domestic  violence"  by  means  of  blood- 
shed, but  the  peace  of  intellect,  conscience,  and  unswerving 
will,  as  opposed  to  brute  force. 

When  Hampton  commenced  speaking  there  was  a  fine, 
tall,  stalwart  fellow  from  the  country,  evidently  a  leader, 
standing  near  him,  and  to  this  man  his  words  therefore 
seemed  chiefly  addressed.  It  was  a  study  to  watch  that  man's 
face.  At  first,  before  Hampton  had  begun  speaking,  his  ex- 
pression was  that  of  one  about  to  engage  in  a  life  or  death 
struggle — eyebrows  drawn  down  in  a  fierce  frown,  eyes  steely, 
lips  firmly  pressed  together,  and  every  muscle  of  the  body  ap- 
parently tense.  When  the  first  sentence  was  spoken  the 
frown  relaxed,  presently  the  eyes  gradually  lost  that  terrible 
look,  and  when  the  last  sentence  was  uttered  the  lips  abso- 
lutely parted  in  a  kindly,  good-natured  smile.  "It  is  all 
right,"  for  had  not  Hampton  said  it? 

The  "Conservative"  members-elect  of  the  Legislature,  being 
excluded  from  their  regular  place  of  meeting  in  the  Capitol 
by  soldiers,  occupied  other  quarters  in  the  town,  and  organ- 
ized the  House,  electing  W.  H.  Wallace  speaker. 

Mr.  Chamberlain's  adherents,  having  obtained  possession 
of  the  regular  Representative  Hall  through  the  intervention 
of  the  soldiery,  made  an  illegal  organization  of  the  House, 
being  without  a  regular  quorum,  which  had  to  be  calculated 
with  regard  to  the  whole  number  of  representatives.  They 
elected  a  "scalawag,"  E.  W.  M.  Mackey,  speaker.  He  was 
married  to  a  respectable  colored  girl — more  was  the  pity 
for  her.  The  only  thing  known  in  his  favor  was  that  he 
possessed  physical  courage,  which  was  so  rare  among  his 
party  friends  that  it  conferred  on  him  quite  a  prestige,  and 


160  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

was  a  valuable  asset.  A  mandamus  was  applied  for  to  the 
Supreme  Court  ordering  Mackey  to  hand  over  to  Mr.  Wal- 
lace, Speaker  of  the  House,  the  returns  received  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  but  the  order  was  refused  on  the  ground 
that  a  mandamus  was  applicable  only  to  a  public  officeholder, 
and  Mackey,  having  no  official  position  in  law,  could  not  be 
brought  into  court.  This  settled,  by  the  decision  of  the 
highest  authority  in  the  State,  that  the  Mackey  House  was 
not  legal,  was  not  the  House  of  Representatives  at  all. 

General  Ruger,  having  discovered  that  Dennis  had  not 
possessed  even  the  color  of  authority  for  directing  his  squad 
of  soldiers  in  passing  on  the  credentials  of  the  Representa- 
tives, expressed  to  General  Hampton's  friends  regret  for  the 
occurrence,  which  he  attributed  to  a  mistake.  It  was  replied 
that  this  expression  of  regret  was  gratifying  in  a  personal 
sense  as  a  reparation  for  the  affront,  but  that  it  left  the  prac- 
tical injury  unremedied,  and  it  was  asked  that  he  undo  his 
work,  and  let  affairs  begin  de  novo.  This  he  did  not  in  terms 
agree  to  do,  but  promised  that  in  future  he  would  remain 
neutral,  and  confine  himself  strictly  to  preserving  the  peace. 
He  was,  in  fact,  finding  his  position  of  proconsul  not  without 
its  drawbacks.  The  newspapers  at  the  North — all  the  Demo- 
cratic press  and  some  of  the  other  party — were  denouncing 
in  unmeasured  terms  the  usurpation  of  which  he  had  been 
the  instrument.  It  was  not  so  much  that  the  Democrats 
at  the  North  cared  deeply  whether  or  not  the  Hampton 
State  government  per  se  were  maintained.  As  long  as  negro 
supremacy  at  the  South  was  merely  to  them  an  academic 
question,  not  affecting  their  own  interests,  it  was  one  thing — 
indeed  new  and  sensational  experiments  in  suffrage,  like 
vivisection,  may  be  quite  interesting,  where  one  is  not  the 
subject  operated  upon — but  the  present  was  altogether  an- 
other matter,  one  of  practical  importance  to  them,  for  the  sus- 
tainment  or  destruction  of  the  Hampton  regime"  might  have 
much  to  do  with  gaining,  or  losing  the  electoral  vote  and 
the  Congressional  representation  of  the  State.  The  Grant 
administration  would  doubtless  have  hesitated  long  before 
adopting  this  "heroic  treatment,"  if  it  had  not  been  that  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  161 

elections  were  now  over,  and  there  would  be  no  more  impor- 
tant ones  for  nearly  two  years,  for  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
"landslide"  of  1874  was  not  forgotten.  Meantime  General 
Ruger  felt  far  from  comfortable,  and  was  asking  for  more 
specific  instructions.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  told  merely  to  use 
his  own  discretion  within  the  limits  of  the  orders  which  he 
had  received.  For,  if  there  were  trouble,  his  actions  might  be 
disavowed  by  his  superiors,  and  he  find  himself  a  scapegoat, 
which  had  happened  in  a  measure  during  the  Louisiana  epi- 
sodes alluded  to,  and  he  was  aware  that  he  would  be  person- 
ally answerable  to  the  courts  for  fine  or  imprisonment,  for 
any  illegal  acts  done  outside  of  his  military  authority,  as 
proved  by  orders  in  his  possession. 

Relying  upon  General  Ruger's  assurance  that  there  would 
be  no  further  military  interference  with  the  Legislature,  the 
Hampton  members  went  to  the  Capitol  on  the  morning  of 
November  30  and  occupied  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, Wallace  and  Sloan,  the  duly  elected  speaker  and 
clerk,  taking  their  chairs.  At  the  door  of  entrance  had  been 
stationed  a  deputy  United  States  marshal  in  company  with 
a  negro  without  any  official  authority,  but  claiming  to  be 
sergeant-at-arms  of  the  Mackey  House,  which  the  Supreme 
Court  had  decided  had  no  existence  in  law.  Afterward 
Mackey,  with  his  following  of  the  black  rump  parliament, 
entered  the  hall,  and  was  much  astonished  and  disgusted  to 
find  the  real  House  holding  its  rightful  position  there.  It 
appeared  that  he  was  not  then  aware  of  Ruger's  change  of 
mind.  Mackey  demanded  the  chair,  but  his  request  was,  of 
course,  refused.  He  then  communicated  with  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, presumably  to  obtain  troops  with  which  to  eject  the 
Hampton  House,  but  not  then  obtaining  this  aid,  after  a  while 
drew  up  a  chair  near  the  speaker's  desk,  and  called  his  follow- 
ers to  order.  It  thus  became  a  contest  of  endurance  between 
the  real  House  and  the  pretended  one  of  which  Mackey 
asserted  himself  to  be  speaker,  but  which  had  been  pro- 
nounced spurious  by  the  Supreme  Court.  Neither  body  would 
adjourn  lest  the  other  should  thereby  gain  an  advantage,  and 
prepared  to  hold  a  continuous  session  day  and  night.  There 
was  no  disturbance  or  anything  like  it.  The  negroes  of 


162  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Hackey,  in  fact,  seemed — child-like  in  simplicity  as  the  race 
is — to  think  it  a  "huge  joke,"  until  they  became  very  hungry, 
and  much  envied  the  lunches  sent  to  the  "buckrarnen,"  who 
good-naturedly  gave  them  the  leavings.  But  then,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  the  "Conservatives,"  the  mailed  hand  was  again  out- 
stretched to  obstruct  a  legal  and  assist  an  illegal  assembly. 
Ruger  sent  a  staff  officer  and  informed  Speaker  Wallace,  at 
his  desk,  that  the  delegations  from  the  counties  of  Edgefield 
and  Laurens  would  not  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  State 
House  after  the  hour  of  12  M.  of  December  2.  To  this  com- 
munication of  General  Ruger  the  following  reply  was  at  once 
sent  : 

"General  T.  H.  Ruger,  Commanding  U.  8.  Troops  in  South 
Carolina, 

"DEAR  SIR  :  We  have  just  heard  through  Major  McGinnis, 
of  your  Staff,  your  order  communicated  to  William  H.  Wal- 
lace, Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  at  twelve 
o'clock  tomorrow  the  members  elect  from  Edgefleld  would 
not  be  allowed  upon  the  floor  of  the  House. 

"To  say  that  we  are  surprised  at  such  an  order,  after  the 
explanations  and  pledges  made  by  you  to  each  one  of  us,  is 
to  use  very  mild  language.  When  the  outrage  of  Tuesday 
last  was  committed  by  the  placing  of  armed  sentinels  at  the 
door  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  who  decided  upon  the 
admission  of  members  to  their  seats,  and  when  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  brought  to  your  attention,  you  distinctly  and  warmly 
asserted,  again  and  again,  that  your  orders  were  misunder- 
stood :  that  you  did  not  intend  to  have  sentinels  at  the  door 
of  the  hall;  that  you  had  not  and  did  not  intend  to  assume 
to  decide  upon  the  legality  of  any  man's  seat  or  upon  his 
right  to  enter  the  hall.  You  were  then  reminded  by  us  that 
your  guard  received  instructions  from  one  Dennis,  a  citizen, 
and  partizan  of  Governor  Chamberlain,  to  admit  parties 
upon  his  own  pass  or  that  of  one  Jones,  and  had,  through 
armed  forces,  excluded  all  Democrats  from  the  hall  until  the 
Republican  organization  was  completed. 

"You  assured  us  again  that  such  were  not  your  orders,  and 
were  told  by  us  that,  notwithstanding  the  perpetration  of 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  163 

this  inexpressible  shame  upon  our  free  institutions,  and  the 
rights  of  the  people,  the  evils  could  still  be  remedied  without 
violence  or  bloodshed  by  a  simple  withdrawal  of  your  guard 
from  the  doors  of  the  hall,  and  that  a  majority  of  votes 
decides  all  questions  in  accordance  with  law  and  the  usage 
of  Legislative  bodies.  You  stated  that  no  troops  should  be 
at  the  door  and  that  under  no  circumstances  would  you 
interfere,  except  there  should  occur  a  serious  disturbance  of 
the  peace.  You  affirmed  your  determination  to  exercise  no 
supervisory  control  whatever  over  the  body  or  bodies  claim- 
ing to  be  the  House  of  Representatives.  All  this  occurred  on 
yesterday.  Last  night,  in  a  later  interview  with  Senator 
Gordon,  you  made  the  same  assurances,  and  this  morning, 
after  both  bodies  were  assembled  in  the  hall,  you  assured 
General  Hampton  that  under  no  circumstances  would  you 
interfere,  except  to  keep  the  peace. 

"What  now  can  justly  measure  our  astonishment  at  the 
issuance  of  such  an  order  as  the  one  just  sent  by  you?  There 
is  no  breach  of  the  peace,  and  no  prospect  of  its  disturbance. 
You  had  it  officially  brought  to  your  notice  that  absolute 
good-humor  prevails  in  this  hall.  We  cannot  refrain  from 
expressing  the  apprehension,  that  the  fact  that  a  number  of 
leading  Republicans  are  taking  issue  with  the  legality  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Republican  House,  has  changed  your 
views  as  to  your  line  of  duty.  It  is  proper  that  we  should 
say  in  conclusion  that  we  relied  upon  your  honor  as  a  man 
and  your  character  as  a  soldier  to  maintain  your  pledged 
position  of  non-intervention. 

"The  Democratic  members  from  Edgefleld  and  Laurens  are 
entitled  to  their  seats  by  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  this  State,  and  we  have  advised  them  to  remain  in  the  hall 
until  removed  by  your  troops,  that  the  issue  may  be  made  in 
this  centennial  year  of  American  independence  whether  we 
have  a  government  of  law,  as  construed  by  courts,  or  a  cen- 
tralized despotism  whose  only  law  is  force.  Let  the  American 
people  behold  the  spectacle  of  a  Brigadier-General  of  the 
Army  seated  by  the  side  of  Governor  Chamberlain  in  a  room 
in  the  State  House,  and  issuing  his  orders  to  a  legislative 


164  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

body  peacefully  assembled  in  one  of  the  original  thirteen 
commonwealths  of  this  Union. 

Respectfully  yours, 

J.  B.  GORDON. 
WADE  HAMPTON. 
A.  C.  HASKELL. 
"Columbia,  S.  C.,  November  30th,  1876." 

Of  the  signatures  attached  to  the  above  letter,  the  first  was 
that  of  United  States  Senator  Gordon  of  Georgia,  and  the 
last  of  Mr.  Haskell,  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Com- 
mittee. 

On  December  1  General  Ruger  sent  a  dispatch  addressed  to 
either  General  Sherman  or  the  Secretary  of  War  at  Washing- 
ton, admitting  his  original  "mistake,"  but  saying  nothing 
about  the  matter  referred  to  in  the  above  letter. 

The  country  was  apprised  of  the  true  condition  of  affairs 
by  telegrams  sent  not  only  by  General  Hampton  but  by  Sen- 
ator Gordon  and  other  well-known  men,  and  so  was  the 
President. 

On  November  28  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  sent  to  President 
Grant  a  telegram  stating  that  "the  House  [meaning  the 
Mackey  black  parliament]  and  Senate  organized  today/' 
having  "a  quorum."  To  say  the  least,  this  was  a  misleading 
statement,  inasmuch  as  the  Mackey  assemblage  had  not  a 
legal  quorum,  and  the  Supreme  Court  decided  that  it  was 
not  the  "House."  It  could  only  be  satisfactory  to 

Such  as  do  build  their  faith  upon 
The  holy  text  of  pike  and  gun. 

General  Ruger  did  not  carry  out  his  announced  programme 
of  seizing  in  the  hall  the  representatives  from  the  counties 
of  Edgefield  and  Laurens,  but  on  the  night  of  December  3  a 
number  of  negroes  were  sent  to  the  State  House  under  the 
name  of  a  State  constabulary  force,  and  the  next  day  Mackey 
informed  Mr.  Wallace,  the  speaker,  that  the  negroes,  aided 
by  troops,  would  at  2  P.  M.  proceed  to  clear  the  hall  of  per- 
sons obnoxious  to  him.  The  plan  was  not  difficult  to  see 
through :  the  negroes  would  make  the  attempt  and,  having 
been  promptly  kicked  out,  the  wished-for  "violence"  or 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  165 

"breach  of  peace"  would  be  assumed  established,  and  then 
Ruger's  troops  would  make  the  attempt  and,  if  they  likewise 
were  ejected,  there  would  be  a  conflict  with  the  United  States 
authorities,  to  bring  about  which  had  been  the  desire  of  the 
Radicals  for  months  past.  But  Hampton  was  not  to  be 
caught  in  this  way.  So  the  regular  House  adjourned  to  the 
hall  in  the  town  which  it  had  first  occupied. 

On  December  5  the  two  Chamberlain  so-called  Houses  (i.  e. 
the  bogus  House  and  the  Senate)  met  in  joint  session,  and, 
having  thrown  out  three  other  counties  in  addition  to  Edge- 
field  and  Laurens  and  thus  "counted-in"  Mr.  Chamberlain 
as  Governor,  proceeded  to  declare  his  election.  They  figured 
his  majority,  according  to  their  approved  method  of  "count- 
ing-in,"  at  about  three  thousand,  but  it  would  have  been  as 
easy  and  as  honest  to  have  added  another  aught.  It  is  but 
fair  to  say  here,  that  Hayne,  the  Secretary  of  State  (a  negro), 
and  member  of  the  Board  of  Canvassers,  had  put  himself  on 
record  as  voting  against  the  throwing  out  of  the  votes  of  the 
two  counties,  on  the  ground  that  all  the  evidence  against 
them  was  purely  ex  parte,  and  no  other  had  been  admitted, 
but  the  other  members  of  the  board  had  voted  unanimously 
against  him.  Mr.  Chamberlain  did  not  deliver  an  inaugural 
address  in  the  usual  form,  but  made  a  speech,  intended, 
naturally  enough,  for  the  country.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  crit- 
icise it  after  all  the  changes  of  the  intervening  years  have 
upset  ideas  then  entertained  by  him.  Gleaves,  a  mulatto, 
and  not  more  off  in  color  than  in  honesty,  was  "counted  in" 
as  Lieutenant-Governor,  to  succeed  himself.  He  had  been 
complained  of  by  the  Governor  during  the  last  two  years  for 
issuing  pardons  for  infamous  crimes  during  the  Governor's 
frequent  absences  from  the  State,  and  there  had  been  pardons 
issued  for  infamous  crimes  during  Scott's  regime  numbering 
579,  in  that  of  Moses  457,  and  under  Chamberlain  73,  and 
how  many  thousands  of  criminals  unconvicted  and  unprose- 
cuted  no  man  can  know.  The  rest  of  the  personnel  of  the 
State  government  thus  sought  to  be  set  up  was  in  conformity 
with  this,  and  never  at  the  darkest  hour  of  Reconstruction 
had  there  been  a  worse  lot.  Had  the  ship  of  state  been  really 
thus  launched  she  would  have  been  under  the  black  flag,  with 


166  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

a  pirate  crew,  destined  on  a  cruise  of  unparalleled  crime  on 
the  political  seas. 

As  Mr.  Chamberlain  never  succeeded  in  getting  nearer  to 
being  Governor  from  the  election  of  1876  than  at  this  junc- 
ture, we  can  best  examine  his  credentials  here. 

To  begin  with,  he  was  not  a  de  facto  Governor  at  all.  This 
he  himself  asseverates  again  and  again,  in  daily  and  hourly 
telegrams  and  letters  to  Washington  and  to  the  country.  He 
leaves  no  doubt  upon  the  subject,  saying,  what  was  perfectly 
true,  that  he  and  his  so-called  State  officers  and  Legislature 
were  powerless  to  perform  a  single  function  of  government, 
and  unable  even  to  remain  in  the  Capitol  unless  maintained 
there  by  United  States  troops.  That  settles  the  de  facto 
question,  the  most  important,  by  far,  of  all. 

He  was  not  de  jure  Governor,  because  his  title  was  founded 
entirely  upon  the  fraud  committed  by  the  Board  of  Can- 
vassers, and,  as  he  was  at  that  time  Governor,  and  they  a  part 
of  his  administration,  their  aid  was  quasi  his  own  act,  and 
it  is  an  elementary  principle  of  law  that  no  man  can  take 
advantage  of  his  own  wrongful  act.  Besides  this — and  many 
other  disqualifying  circumstances — the  counting  of  the  votes 
for  Governor  was  not  legally  done,  because  the  Mackey  black 
parliament  had  been  declared  by  the  courts  not  to  be  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  therefore  incompetent  to  act 
in  joint  session  with  the  Senate,  as  was  required  by  law. 
Moreover,  even  with  the  Mackey  crew,  the  joint  session  did 
not  have  a  majority  of  the  members  elected  to  the  two  houses. 
Still  more  important,  on  the  merits,  disregarding  technicali- 
ties and  artificial  legal  niceties  and  sophistry,  he  had  only  a 
minority  of  the  votes  fairly  polled  at  the  booths  and  fairly 
counted,  and  even  this  minority  consisted  only  of  the  votes 
of  ignorant  or  corrupt  negroes  and  "carpet-baggers,"  the 
mere  receiving  of  which  was  a  shame  and  degradation  to  the 
very  principle  of  suffrage.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is 
hardly  supposable  that  the  Washington  administration 
would  have  endeavored  to  maintain  him,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  prize  of  the  electoral  vote.  It  could  not  abandon  him 
without  weakening  its  position,  until  that  point  was  settled, 


THE  CAMPAIGN  AFTER  THE  ELECTION  167 

and  then,  as  we  all  know,  it  promptly  did  leave  him  in  the 
lurch. 

As  for  the  Hampton  party,  it  had  a  valid  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives as  confirmed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  with  a 
majority  on  joint  ballot  with  the  Senate,  but  it  had  not  by  the 
returns  a  majority  in  the  Senate.  As  the  Radical  members 
of  the  Senate  refused  to  join  with  them  in  joint  session,  the 
Hampton  members  found  it  thus  rendered  impossible  to 
count  the  votes  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  in  the 
regular  way.  They  consequently  did  the  only  thing  possible 
and  proper  to  do,  for  the  State  could  not  be  left  in  the  position 
of  having  an  executive  who  had  been  fairly  elected  by  the 
people,  not  inaugurated  merely  because  the  majority  of  the 
Senate  would  not  act.  So  the  House,  the  regular  one,  met  in 
joint  session  with  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Senate, 
thus  having  a  majority  of  all  the  members  of  both  houses, 
and  counted  the  votes,  declaring  General  Hampton  Governor, 
and  Mr.  Simpson  Lieutenant-Governor.  This  sufficiently 
explains  the  purely  technical  grounds  of  General  Hampton's 
title. 

But  on  the  merits  his  title  was  perfect.  He  had  received 
the  highest  number  of  votes  of  the  people  according  to  the 
returns,  having  a  majority  of  over  twelve  hundred,  and  had 
also  received  the  majority  of  votes  fairly  cast  and  fairly 
counted.  Moreover,  this  majority  represented  the  suffrages 
of  the  entire  respectable,  educated,  tax-paying,  substantial 
part  of  the  community,  the  brains,  morals,  and  muscle.  His 
de  facto  right  was  perfect  throughout  the  State,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  space  in  square  feet  actually  occupied 
by  United  States  troops.  A  de  facto  title  is  the  foundation 
of  all  government,  which  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  government 
at  all  without  it,  and,  with  permanence  and  order  main- 
tained, becomes  a  perfect  title,  even  if  in  its  origin  totally 
without  de  jure  claim. 

On  December  12  President  Grant  sent  six  hundred  more 
troops  to  Columbia.  Secretary  Fish  was  reported  as  oppos- 
ing all  the  troop-sending  programme,  and  threatening  to 
resign  from  the  cabinet. 


168  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 


CHAPTER  SEVENTH 

INAUGURATION  OF  GOVERNOR  HAMPTON,  AND  BEGINNING  OF 
His  ADMINISTRATION 

Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new, 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  true. 

— Tennyson. 

On  December  14  General  Hampton  was  inaugurated  Gov- 
ernor, and  Mr.  Simpson  Lieutenant-Governor.  The  ceremony 
was  performed  in  front  of  the  hall  in  which  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  had  been  assembling  since  they  were  driven 
from  the  Capitol  by  duress  of  troops,  as  already  related.  The 
Conservatives  had  by  this  time  a  legal  majority  exclusive 
of  the  members  from  Edgefield  and  Laurens  Counties,  as  a 
number  had  come  to  them  from  the  Mackey  rump  parlia- 
ment. Unbounded  enthusiasm  prevailed  and  perfect  good 
order.  Indeed  the  feeling,  intense  and  ardent  though  it 
was,  took  more  the  form  of  a  devout  "thank  God!"  than  of 
noisy  demonstrations  in  the  streets,  and  from  church  and 
chamber  thanksgivings  were  mingled  with  prayers  for  the 
future  of  their  own  government,  now  their  very  own,  and 
Hampton,  their  very  own.  But  good,  honest  jollity  was  there 
also ;  cannon  boomed,  fired  by  all  the  clubs,  and  rockets  went 
up,  and  rousing  cheers.  It  was  a  beautiful,  bright,  sunny, 
crisp  day,  such  as  can  be  had  only  at  the  South  at  that  season 
of  the  year,  and  the  very  earth  and  sky  seemed  to  sympathize 
with  and  participate  in  the  general  rejoicing.  In  the  street, 
before  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  a  good  part  of  whom 
were  women,  young  and  old,  of  the  highest  standing,  the 
Governor  delivered  his  inaugural  address.  His  fine  presence 
and  commanding  appearance,  and  clear,  calm,  gentle  voice 
attracted  all  eyes  and  ears  in  the  vast  throng.  After  picturing 
in  eloquent  words — every  one  of  which  found  a  response  in 
each  of  his  hearers'  hearts — the  deplorable  conditions  under 
which — as  all  knew  but  too  well — their  State  had  been  suffer- 
ing for  ten  years,  and  the  mighty  struggle  which  they  had 
just  made  to  rescue  civilization,  and  condemning  in  language 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  169 

fitting  the  deed  the  usurpation  attempted  through  the  bayo- 
nets of  troops  to  defeat  a  people's  lawfully  expressed  will,  he 
concluded  in  these  words: 

"A  great  task  is  before  the  Conservative  party  of  this  State. 
They  entered  on  this  contest  with  a  platform  so  broad,  so 
strong,  so  liberal,  that  every  honest  citizen  could  stand  upon 
it.  They  recognized  and  accepted  the  amendments  of  the 
Constitution  in  good  faith.  They  pledged  themselves  to  work 
reform  and  establish  good  government.  They  promised  to 
keep  up  an  efficient  system  of  public  education,  and  they 
declared  solemnly,  that  all  citizens  of  South  Carolina,  of  both 
races  and  both  parties,  should  be  regarded  as  equals  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law — all  to  be  fully  protected  in  the  enjoyment 
of  every  political  right  now  possessed  by  them.  To  the  faith- 
ful observance  of  these  pledges  we  stand  committed,  and  I, 
as  the  representative  of  the  Conservative  party,  hold  myself 
bound  by  every  dictate  of  honor  and  good  faith  to  use  every 
effort  to  have  these  pledges  redeemed  fully  and  honestly. 
It  is  due  not  only  to  ourselves,  but  to  the  colored  people  of 
the  State,  that  wise,  just,  and  liberal  measures  should  prevail 
in  our  legislation.  We  owe  much  of  our  late  success  to  those 
colored  voters,  who  were  brave  enough  to  rise  above  the 
prejudice  of  race  and  honest  enough  to  throw  off  the  shackles 
of  party  in  their  determination  to  save  the  State.  To  those 
who,  misled  by  their  fears,  their  ignorance,  or  by  evil  coun- 
selors, turned  a  deaf  ear  to  our  appeals,  we  should  not  be 
vindictive,  but  magnanimous.  Let  us  show  to  all  of  them 
that  the  true  interests  of  both  races  can  best  be  secured  by 
cultivating  peace  and  promoting  prosperity  among  all  classes 
of  our  fellow-citizens. 

"I  rely  confidently  on  the  support  of  the  members  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  my  efforts  to  attain  these  laudable  ends, 
and  I  trust  that  all  branches  of  the  government  will  unite 
cordially  in  this  patriotic  work.  If  so  united  and  working 
with  resolute  will  and  earnest  determination,  we  may  hope 
soon  to  see  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day  for  our  State.  God 
in  His  infinite  mercy,  grant  that  it  may  come  speedily,  and 
may  He  shower  the  richest  blessings  of  peace  and  happiness 
on  our  whole  people." 


170  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

The  Governor  then  took  the  oath  of  office  administered  by 
a  judge  of  the  Circuit  Court. 

And  then  the  welkin  rang  with  the  shouts  of  thousands. 
Men  and  women  almost  tumbled  over  one  another  to  get  a 
hand-shake  of  their  chief.  They  grasped  one  another's  hands 
again  and  again  in  a  spirit  of  comradeship,  which  had  been  a 
marked  feature  of  the  campaign  from  its  inception ;  all  were 
"red  shirts"  in  enthusiasm — fellow-soldiers  all.  At  length 
they  could  no  longer  restrain  themselves.  Hampton  was 
induced  to  seat  himself  in  a  large  armchair,  and  "most 
potent,  grave  and  reverend  signiors,"  like  boys  once  more, 
caught  it  up  on  their  shoulders  and  marched  with  him  thus 
enthroned  through  the  streets  to  his  hotel,  accompanied  by 
the  tramp  of  thousands  of  feet,  and  the  mad  cheers  of  men, 
the  air  vibrating  with  the  music  of  women's  voices  mingled 
with  the  roar  of  artillery  and  the  ringing  of  church  bells. 

What  a  different  spectacle  was  witnessed  at  the  Capitol 
on  December  5,  when  the  contestants  for  the  position  of  Gov- 
ernor went  through  the  form  of  inauguration.  The  hall  was 
strictly  guarded,  the  public  carefully  excluded,  and  there, 
amid  the  black  faces  of  the  "rump  parliament,"  with  a 
sprinkling  of  the  palid,  anxious  countenances  of  "carpet- 
baggers," the  solemn  farce  was  quietly  enacted  surrepti- 
tiously. It  resembled  a  funeral.  It  was  a  funeral:  the 
funeral  of  negro  rule,  crime,  and  humbug.  A  correspondent 
of  a  Northern  newspaper,  who  was  there,  tells  how  he  shud- 
dered at  the  sight  of  twenty-five  rifles  stacked  by  the  door 
of  the  Governor's  private  room,  and  how  sentinels  paced  the 
corridors  and  passageways. 

The  inaugural  of  Governor  Hampton  was  very  well  re- 
ceived throughout  the  country;  with  acclamations  by  the 
Democratic  newspapers,  and  with  marked  approval  by  all 
independent  journals,  and  was  hardly  less  commended  by 
the  Republican  papers  not  the  actual  organs  of  the  adminis- 
tration, and  even  these  latter  emitted  very  faint  and  quali- 
fied grumbles.  The  Springfield  Republican  said  that  "either 
Hampton  or  Ruger  was  Governor,  for  Chamberlain  certainly 
wras  not."  Indeed  it  was  a  spectacle  to  chain  the  attention, 
and  fire  the  heart  and  imagination  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  people 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  171 

wherever  they  might  live,  to  see  this  one  man,  erect  in  the 
majesty  of  a  people's  universally  acclaimed  leader,  calm, 
confident  in  the  justice  of  his  cause,  confronting  the  whole 
power  of  the  local  Radicals  and  the  Executive  at  Washing- 
ton backed  by  an  unwilling  army. 

As  Lieutenant-Governor  Simpson  was  now  inaugurated, 
it  became  practicable  to  organize  the  Senate,  which  had  not 
before  this  been  feasible  by  law.  The  prescribed  practice 
under  the  law  was  for  the  Lieutenant-Governor  to  organize 
the  Senate,  and  if  there  were  vacancies,  to  issue  writs  of  elec- 
tion to  fill  them. 

On  December  19,  with  a  legal  quorum,  at  a  joint  session  of 
both  houses,  M.  C.  Butler,  formerly  a  very  brilliant  Major- 
General  of  Cavalry  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  was 
elected  United  States  Senator  for  the  term  beginning  March 
4,  1877.  He  was  destined  to  serve  for  two  terms  with  dis- 
tinguished success  and  usefulness  to  his  State. 

After  his  inauguration,  General  Hampton  requested  Mr. 
Chamberlain,  his  predecessor  in  the  office,  to  deliver  to  him 
the  great  seal  of  the  State,  and  other  appurtenances,  but  this 
was  declined. 

At  this  juncture  a  Bill  (in  form)  was  introduced  in 
Mackey's  "black  parliament"  the  purpose  of  which  was  to 
proceed  against  General  Hampton  and  others  for  treason, 
and  under  its  provisions  to  arrest  them.  Nothing  came  of  it. 
Probably  it  was  only  an  attempt  to  "intimidate"  on  the  part 
of  Mackey,  who,  to  do  him  justice,  was  the  only  one  of  those 
"statesmen"  who  possessed  courageous  energy.  The  attempt 
to  enforce  such  a  so-called  Act  would,  of  course,  have  been 
ridiculous,  and  likely  to  have  resulted  in  the  consignment  of 
the  authors  to  prison. 

The  notorious  Whittemore,  who  had  been  expelled  from 
Congress  because  convicted  of  making  a  trade  of  bribe-receiv- 
ing for  naval  cadetships,  was  one  of  the  "high-lights"  of  the 
Senate,  chairman  of  principal  committees,  and  all  that.  At 
this  time,  it  appears,  there  were  some  bills  of  the  Bank  of  the 
State,  which  should  have  been  canceled.  He  recommended 
that  in  this  instance  (note  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  this 
committee  for  cancelation)  they  be  canceled  with  a  stamp, 


172  HAMPTON  AND  ^RECONSTRUCTION 

which  would  cut  through  the  bills,  before  they  were  delivered 
to  the  committee,  because,  as  he  said,  in  the  last  case  of  the 
kind  the  bills  had  been  canceled  with  a  stamp  which  ad- 
mitted of  being  rubbed  out,  and  that  the  bills  had  been 
treated  in  that  way  and  used  by  "some  one."  This  sugges- 
tion was  received  without  surprise  by  the  members  of  the 
present,  and  previous,  committee,  who  were  among  the 
audience,  not  the  slightest  exception  being  taken  to  the 
charge  that  the  last  committee  had  stolen  the  bills,  and  that 
the -present  one  would,  if  they  had  the  chance,  do  the  same 
thing,  as  a  matter  of  course.  Every  one  knew  that  they  would 
do  so,  and  why  needlessly  take  the  trouble  to  affect  surprise 
or  an  appearance  of  offense?  There  were  hundreds  of  far 
worse  crimes  committed,  though  stealing  money  held  in  a 
fiduciary  capacity  is  more  base  than  burglary ;  but  the  writer 
quotes  this  case  as  illustrating  fairly  well  the  moral  color- 
blindness, the  utter  absence  of  anything  serving  in  the  place 
of  a  conscience,  the  bottomless  turpitude  of  persons  who  had 
not  the  faintest  conception  that  a  shameless  thief  is  some- 
thing outside  of  the  pale.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  to  people 
imbued  with  normal  ethics.  And  yet  here  was  an  ordinary, 
every-day  occurence. 

There  was,  about  this  time,  a  case  of  real  practical  "in- 
timidation." Some  gentlemen  residing  in  Columbia  selected 
a  bright,  moonlight  night  for  a  fox-chase  to  take  place  not 
far  from  the  town  limits.  The  fox  usually  commences  his 
supper-calls  before  dark  in  the  afternoon  and,  if  successful 
in  obtaining  satisfactory  hospitality,  lies  up  long  before 
dawn  of  day,  so  that  the  earlier  in  the  evening  one  starts  on 
the  hunt  the  easier  it  generally  is  to  strike  a  trail.  On  this 
occasion  a  fine  fox  was  soon  trailed  and  jumped  and  made  in 
the  direction  of  the  town,  followed  by  a  large  pack  of  hounds 
in  full  cry,  and  men  galloping  after  them  yelling  the  hunting- 
cry,  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  much  resembles  the  old 
Confederate  battle-yell,  which  was  derived  from  it.  "States- 
men" awoke,  and  trembled  in  their  beds.  They  had  been  for 
long  bawling  in  fun  to  President  Grant,  "Wolf !  Wolf !"  and 
now  here  sure  enough  was  true  "wolf."  Some  of  them,  as  it 
was  credibly  reported  in  the  newspapers,  incontinently  fled 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  173 

in  their  night-shirts  (it  was  before  the  era  of  pajamas)  to  the 
Capitol,  seeking  safety  there  with  the  "troops."  It  is  cer- 
tainly and  soberly  true  that  great  consternation  was  pro- 
duced among  them,  and  intense  indignation,  when  they 
discovered  that  they  had  made  themselves  the  victims  of  a 
joke.  This  was  "domestic  violence"  of  the  genuine  brand, 
no  "telepathic"  sort  about  it.  But  inasmuch  as  they  had  been 
for  so  long  wearing  out  the  wires  to  the  North  asseverating 
that  their  presence  at  the  South  was  purely  from  altruistic 
motives,  an  unselfish  sacrifice  for  their  fellow  (colored)  men, 
it  is  a  wonder  that  they  did  not  welcome  this  apparent  chance 
for  martyrdom  in  the  good  cause. 

This  reminds  me,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  would  say,  of  another  inci- 
dent illustrating  how  "conscience  does  make  cowards  of  us 
all."  There  was  a  kind,  good-hearted  old  gentleman  in 
Charleston,  who  had  never  killed  anything  larger  than  a 
mosquito.  But  he  would  become  almost  always  excited  in 
conversing  about  any  subject  which  interested  him,  and  as  he 
would  warm  up  it  was  his  habit  suddenly  to  thrust  hand  in 
pocket,  and  seize  his  handkerchief  with  which  to  wipe  his 
face.  He  was  talking  one  day  with  a  "carpet-bagger,"  and 
becoming  heated,  mentally  and  physically,  as  usual,  dove  into 
his  pocket  for  a  handkerchief,  perceiving  which  the  valiant 
"carpet-bagger"  waited  to  see  no  more,  but  broke  in  a  run  for 
"troops,"  or  some  other  sanctuary,  thinking  that  a  pistol  was 
being  drawn  upon  him. 

One  of  these  "statesmen" — Tim  Hurley — used  to  say  that 
he  never  saw  a  lamp-post  but  his  neck  commenced  to  hurt 
him.  He  is  probably  about  the  only  "carpet-bagger"  who, 
departing  with  the  others,  "as  the  swallows  homeward  fly," 
in  the  following  April,  left  behind  him  anything  of  value  to 
the  community;  he  left  some  fair  jokes.  Among  others,  he 
told  one  of  his  colleagues,  a  dull  fellow,  that,  as  fish  was 
brain  food,  he  had  better  buy  a  whole  whale  and  eat  it  all  by 
himself.  In  early  January,  1877,  he  was  presented  by  the 
grand  jury  of  Charleston  County  for  corruption,  fraud,  and 
official  misconduct  as  County  Treasurer,  and  ejected  on  Feb- 
ruary 2.  He  was  one  of  the  Hayes  Electors. 

Immediately  after  his  inauguration,  Hampton  set  about 


174  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

putting  in  order  the  county  offices  throughout  the  State,  so 
that  business  could  get  back  into  its  normal  channels.  He 
sent  circulars  to  reliable,  substantial  citizens  in  the  different 
counties,  asking  them  to  name  suitable  persons  for  trial  jus- 
tices and  other  positions,  if  the  offices  were  vacant  or  occu- 
pied by  corrupt  or  incompetent  incumbents.  When  the 
Legislature  had  first  convened,  legal  steps  had  been  taken 
to  enjoin  the  banks,  which  were  State  depositories,  from 
paying  out  any  funds  on  checks  or  vouchers  from  any  of  the 
Radical  State  officers.  When  inaugurated,  Hampton  served 
similar  official  notice  upon  them,  but  the  banks  were  ready 
to  honor  his  official  drafts,  so  that  necessary  funds  were 
thus  made  available.  On  December  22  a  mass  meeting  was 
held  in  Charleston,  at  which  practically  the  names  of  all 
those  well-known  in  business  and  social  circles  figured,  as 
vice-presidents,  and  here  by  a  unanimous  vote  the  members 
were  pledged — and  their  action  virtually  bound  the  entire 
community — to  sustain  the  Hampton  government  in  all  its 
branches,  as  the  only  State  government.  This  necessarily 
implied  the  pledge  to  pay  taxes  to  that  government,  and  to 
pay  assessments  to  none  other  asserting  itself  to  be  a  State 
government.  The  chairman,  by  instructions  of  the  meeting, 
sent  the  following  telegram  to  Governor  Hampton : 

"The  citizens  of  Charleston,  in  mass-meeting  assembled, 
send  you  greeting,  and  pledge  your  government  their  obedi- 
ence and  support  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  denounce  D.  H. 
Chamberlain  as  a  usurper  and  a  traitor  to  the  State  and  her 
laws." 

This  action  was  followed  throughout  the  State.  By  early 
January  the  Governor  was  able  to  appoint  receivers  generally 
for  the  taxes  to  be  voluntarily  paid,  which  were  made  as 
moderate  as  circumstances  warranted  but  were  sufficient 
for  all  purposes,  and  the  collecting  went  on  regularly  and 
smoothly.  Meantime,  a  bank  in  Charleston,  as  well  as  those 
in  Columbia,  advanced  all  needed  funds.  This  proved  to 
be  a  killing  blow  for  Mr.  Chamberlain's  bogus  government. 
It  could  raise  no  money.  Its  credit  was  gone.  Its  bonds 
would  not  have  sold  higher  than  waste  paper,  and  evil- 
odored  waste  paper  at  that.  Kimpton  paid  it  a  visit,  but 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  175 

to  no  avail.  He  it  was  who  had  been  its  financial  Napo- 
leon in  the  times  which  United  States  Senator  Patterson 
had  characterized  as  "years  of  good  stealing  in  South  Car- 
olina/' but  those  halcyon  days  were  gone,  never  to  return. 
Even  the  Superintendent  of  the  Penitentiary  refused  to 
recognize  the  contesting  Governor's  pardons,  and  that  had 
been  a  fertile  source  of  revenue  in  the  good  old  days.  As 
the  "statesmen"  were  there  "for  what  there  was  in  it,"  gloom 
pervaded  now  every  face,  white  as  well  as  "black  and  tan." 
The  contestant  for  the  office  of  Governor  was  placed  in  the 
position  of  "the  penniless  traveler,"  who  "can  sing  in  the 
presence  of  robbers,"  as  Horace  has  it ;  that  is  to  say,  he  was 
"penniless,"  and  there  were  the  "robbers"  sure  enough,  but 
he  found  it  doubtless  no  occasion  for  careless  singing.  As 
for  the  negroes  and  mulattoes  composing  the  so-called  legisla- 
ture, they  were  even  in  a  worse  plight.  Accustomed  for  the 
last  decade  to  regard  a  legislative  session  as  a  grand  frolic 
from  first  to  last,  free  liquor  and  cigars,  oysters  and  pates 
galore  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  fun  voting  taxes  to  be 
got  exclusively  from  white  people,  and  their  "sal'ry"  paid 
in  advance.  But  now  starvation  stared  them  in  the  face 
since  the  Democratic  hen-roost  was  debarred  them;  nothing 
to  eat  but  what  they  could  steal  from  one  another,  and,  what 
was  far  worse,  no  whiskey  to  drink,  where  oceans  had  been 
wont  to  flow.  "Dis  ent  no  freedom,"  they  could  be  heard 
groaning.  Christmas-time  was  at  hand,  too,  and  a  darkey 
with  an  empty  stomach  at  such  a  season  is  indeed  a  pathetic 
sight.  They  might  even  be  reduced  to  doing  a  little,  just  a 
very  little,  honest  work  for  the  "buckra." 

No  doubt  some  of  the  leaders  had  funds — probably  not 
within  the  State,  for  prudence  is  always  advisable — but  their 
confidence  in  getting  back  anything  loaned  to  the  "govern- 
ment" was  rudely  shaken,  and  they  themselves  required 
always  cash  in  hand  to  purchase  suddenly  a  railway  ticket 
North,  if  it  became  more  "squally,"  for  recognized  courts  of 
justice  performing  their  functions  were  an  abomination  to 
them.  Friends  at  the  North,  who  had  sent  them  funds 
freely  enough  during  the  campaign,  now  were  inclined  to 
close  their  purses,  or  contribute  very  sparingly,  for  the 


176  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

electoral  vote  could  now  be  not  much  affected  by  anything 
further  that  they  could  do,  and  had  to  be  fought  out  else- 
where. If  the  Radical  contesting  State  government  would 
keep  up  a  feeble  showing  until  March,  that  was  all  which 
was  required  of  them.  At  length,  however,  a  limited  amount 
was  borrowed  from  some  one  more  altruistic  than  the  rest, 
and  a  little  was  doled  out  for  most  pressing  needs,  but  the 
poor  negroes  got  nothing  for  their  Christmas  dinners. 
Dennis,  now  breveted  by  common  consent  by  his  friends  as 
"General"  for  distinguished  services  performed  under  Ruger, 
as  related,  laid  claim  to  several  hundred  dollars.  At  length, 
with  heavy  hearts  and  empty  stomachs,  and  an  awful  thirst, 
these  legislators  adjourned  on  December  23  sine  die,  forever, 
for  "we  shall  not  look  upon  their  like  again."  Certainly  they 
went  "down  to  the  base  earth"  "unhonored  and  unsung,"  but 
not,  alas,  "unwept"  in  one  sense,  for  the  havoc  which  they 
and  their  predecessors  wrought  will  be  the  source  of  distress 
for  years  and  years  to  come. 

The  Hampton  Houses  adjourned  sine  die  on  December  22, 
having  now  assisted  in  putting  the  ship  in  trim  and  left  the 
Governor  on  the  bridge,  where  he  stood  night  and  day. 
Imperturbable  coolness,  and  nerve;  quick  conception  and 
rapid  execution;  wonderful  detection  and  measure  of  his 
opponents'  plans,  and  quick  frustration  of  them ;  untiring 
faith  and  confidence  of  ultimate  success;  almost  sublime 
self-respect,  proof  of  the  most  exalted  courage,  which  enables 
a  man  without  sense  of  humiliation,  to  submit  to  indignities 
when  his  nature  yearns  to  resist ;  all  these  qualifications  for 
their  leader  his  people  well  knew  he  possessed.  But  the 
intuitive  wisdom  with  which  he  was  gifted,  which  enabled 
him,  as  if  by  instinct,  in  a  moment,  to  arrive  at  a  conclusion 
obscured  to  others  in  greatest  doubt,  and  yet  always  to  prove 
in  the  end  right,  and  the  quick  grasp  of  intricate  legal  points ; 
the  accomplished  diplomatic  ability,  which  never  erred; 
these,  I  have  been  informed  by  those  nearest  to  him  in  con- 
fidential transactions  during  this  exciting  period,  often  filled 
them  with  profound  astonishment  and  admiration.  It  was 
as  if  supreme  occasions  with  him  brought  to  the  surface 
reserve  power  for  the  emergency,  those  occult,  mysterious, 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  177 

psychic  forces,  which  rise  for  the  moment  above  mere  mental 
ratiocination,  and  which  the  man  himself  cannot  explain  or 
comprehend. 

On  December  22  the  New  England  Society  of  Charleston 
had  its  annual  dinner.  The  old  Puritans  of  "Mayflower" 
fame  might  perhaps  not  have  approved  altogether  of  the 
good  cheer,  the  viands  and  wine,  but  the  dinner  had  become 
a  custom.  There  being  not  as  numerous  descendants  of  these 
worthy  men  in  Charleston  as  in  some  other  localities,  it  is 
usual  to  bid  to  the  feast  a  good  many  French  Huguenots,  and 
even  godless  Cavaliers.  General  Hampton  was  invited  on 
this  occasion  in  a  very  appreciative  and  complimentary  tele- 
gram, but  could  not  leave  the  helm  to  come,  as  he  would  have 
liked  to  do.  Of  course,  there  were  many  speeches  all  about 
or  touching  on  the  absorbing  topic  of  the  times,  and  all  en- 
thusiastic in  devotion  to  Hampton. 

The  old  year  went  out,  and  the  new  year  came  in  with 
all  the  excitement  in  the  State  and  country  that  anyone 
could  desire.  Perhaps  it  may  have  been  deemed  a  favorable 
omen  for  honest  government  everywhere  that  Mr.  Tweed, 
who  in  South  Carolina  had  so  many  disciples  putting  to 
shame  their  master,  should  have  been  got  in  limbo  a  little 
before  this  time  and  some  of  his  fellow  "statesmen"  were 
being  proceeded  against.  It  was  encouraging  at  least. 

Many  were  the  speculations  as  to  what  Mr.  Ferry,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  Senate,  would  do;  how  he  would 
construe  his  powers  in  the  opening  of  the  electoral  votes. 
Had  it  been  then  known,  that  he  had  conscientiously  refused 
to  serve  his  party  in  the  way  that  they  desired,  there  would 
probably  have  been  no  Electoral  Commission.  He  had  an 
interview  with  the  President  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  and 
it  is  supposed  it  was  then  that  he  confidentially  announced 
his  decision. 

At  this  time,  too,  was  forwarded  to  Congress  through  Sen- 
ator Gordon,  of  Georgia,  a  memorial  signed  by  General 
Hampton  and  Messrs.  Simpson  and  Wallace  and  sixty-five 
members  of  the  House  and  thirteen  of  the  Senate.  It  laid 
before  the  United  States  Congress  the  facts  of  the  situation, 
the  legality  and  correctness  of  the  election,  going  into  details 


178  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  show  clearly  how  the  law  had  been  conformed  to,  and 
ending  thus :  "Wherefore  your  petitioners,  unable  to  assert 
their  rights  in  the  premises,"  pray  Congress,  "to  cause  ces- 
sation of  the  unwarranted  interference  of  the  military  author- 
ities and  the  United  States  troops  in  the  affairs  of  this  State." 

Hampton  had  written  a  letter,  identically  the  same  in 
tenor  to  Mr.  Hayes  as  to  Mr.  Tilden,  so  that  whichever  was 
eventually  declared  elected  would  be  accurately  informed  of 
the  legality  and  rights  of  the  "Conservative"  government. 

The  United  States  House  of  Representatives  early  in  De- 
cember had  sent  a  committee  to  investigate  and  report  upon 
the  election  in  South  Carolina,  and  now  the  Senate  also  had 
one  in  session  in  Columbia  consisting  of  two  Republicans  and 
one  Democrat.  Mr.  Corbin,  the  United  States  District  Attor- 
ney, was  very  active  in  presenting  the  evidence  of  irresponsi- 
ble negroes.  It  was  currently  reported  and  believed  that 
the  price  for  affidavits  was  "a  dollar  fifty  for  one,  or  eighteen 
dollars  a  dozen."  If  there  was  an  incident  of  "freedom" 
which  was  "a  thing  of  beauty"  and  "a  joy  forever"  to  negroes, 
it  was  the  acting  as  witnesses  and  jurors,  and  an  idle  herd 
of  them  was  always  in  waiting  around  court-houses  for  this 
purpose.  The  committee  had  with  it  two  professional  news- 
paper correspondents,  who  for  the  time  being  gave  up  their 
regular  engagement  for  employment  by  the  committee,  but 
in  fact  busied  themselves  sending  telegrams  where  they 
"would  do  the  most  good."  When  testifying  before  this  com- 
mittee, Mr.  Chamberlain,  under  cross-examination  by  the 
Democratic  member,  admitted  that  of  f  511,000  worth  of  arms 
and  ammunition  purchased,  and  paid  for  by  the  State,  only 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  rifles  could  be  accounted  for. 
He  admitted  that  wrhen  at  the  North  in  the  preceding  Septem- 
ber he  had  had  a  consultation  with  President  Grant,  Secre- 
tary of  War  Cameron,  and  other  Republican  leaders  in  regard 
to  introducing  troops  into  the  State;  also,  that  he  had  never 
called  upon  the  white  population  to  assist  in  preserving 
the  peace;  that  he  made  no  attempt  to  arrest  anyone  con- 
cerned in  the  Hamburg  and  Ellenton  riots;  that  the  sheriff 
of  Aiken  County  had  testified  that  he,  unassisted,  could 
execute  warrants,  and  that  no  resistance  whatever  had  been 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  179 

made  by  the  whites  to  the  due  process  of  law;  also,  that 
every  judge  in  the  State,  except  one,  had  denied  the  allega- 
tions of  his  proclamations  relative  to  disorder. 

The  way  of  the  transgressor  began  to  show  signs  of  being 
hard,  for  about  the  middle  of  January  the  Grand  Jury  of 
Charleston  County  made  presentments  against  nearly  a  score 
of  County  officials  for  fraud  and  corruption,  and  at  the  same 
period  influential  Kepublicans  in  some  of  the  upper  Counties 
declared  they  would  pay  no  taxes  to  the  Chamberlain 
dynasty,  and  urged  their  fellow  Kepublicans  to  act  in  the 
same  way. 

During  the  early  part  of  January  an  anonymous  letter 
appeared  in  an  Augusta,  Ga.,  newspaper,  purporting  to  give 
"a  leaf  of  history."  It  said  in  effect,  that  the  Hampton  party 
in  the  election  had  virtually  thrown  overboard,  by  a  quiet 
"deal,"  the  Tilden  ticket,  and  that  this  accounted  for  the 
State  ticket  receiving  more  votes  than  the  electoral.  The 
reason  in  fact  was  that  many  Kepublicans  could  not  stomach 
the  Radical  State  ticket  and  voted  for  Hampton,  while  poll- 
ing their  ballots  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler.  An  imputation  of 
this  kind,  involving  treachery,  and  so  contrary  to  truth,  and 
at  variance  with  General  Hampton's  well-known  nature, 
would  require  in  ordinary  times  no  notice,  but  be  treated 
with  silent  contempt.  But  at  that  period  excitement  was 
running  so  high  throughout  the  country,  and  falsehoods  were 
so  plentiful,  that  this  one  was  definitely  contradicted  and 
set  at  rest  forever.  General  Hampton  said  : 

"The  writer  has  fallen  into  many  and  grave  errors.  I  had 
no  agency  whatever  in  Judge  Mackey's  visit  to  Ohio,  and  he 
bore  no  proposition.  No  message  came  from  me.  He  says  so 
himself.  A  proposition  was  made  to  withdraw  our  electors, 
and  the  Democratic  Executive  Committee  knew  that  I  took 
strong  ground  against  it.  A  subsequent  proposition  was 
made  on  the  same  subject,  and  this  I  also  declined.  . 
Whether  the  canvass  was  a  mistake  or  not,  is  not  for  me  to 
say,  but  I  do  say  that  I  supported  Tilden  thoroughly  and 
heartily  throughout.  The  Democratic  Electors  can  speak  on 
this  point,  and  especially  General  McGowan,  who  is  referred 
to,  and'  who  will,  I  hope,  answer  for  himself.  The  'leaf  of 


180  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

history'  has  been  so  secret,  that  no  one  in  the  State  knows 
anything  about  it,  and  it  is  as  utterly  unreliable  as  'history,' 
as  it  is  'secret'." 

In  a  letter  from  A.  C.  Haskell,  Chairman  of  the  State 
Democratic  Committee,  dated  January  16,  more  light  is 
thrown  on  this  matter.  He  says,  in  substance,  that  when  the 
campaign  was  first  inaugurated  in  South  Carolina  by  the 
nomination  of  Hampton,  the  movement  met  scant  sym- 
pathy— or  none — from  the  headquarters  of  Mr.  Hewitt  and 
presumably  from  Mr.  Tilden.  It  was  more  than  hinted  that 
it  would  have  an  unfavorable  effect  on  the  Presidential  con- 
test, and  assistance  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  it  should 
be  reserved  for  the  doubtful  States.  To  this  it  was  replied 
by  the  State  committeemen  that  the  withholding  of  help  to 
be  applied  to  the  doubtful  States  was  satisfactory,  but  that, 
all  the  same,  the  canvass  would  be  vigorously  pressed  in 
South  Carolina  on  their  own  resources.  The  letter  says: 
"Hampton  made  earnest,  brave  efforts  for  the  Tilden  ticket. 
It  is  utterly  untrue,  that  he  did  otherwise.  .  .  .  On  the 
night  after  the  day  of  Chamberlain's  nomination,  Judge 
Cooke  and  Judge  Mackey  called  at  Democratic  headquarters 
at  Columbia,  General  Hampton  being  absent  at  Abbeville, 
and  declared  their  intention  to  join.  They  had  been  sup- 
porters of  Mr.  Chamberlain,  but  repudiated  him  now.  They 
did  urge  the  abandonment  of  the  national  contest.  They  sub- 
mitted that  it  would  not  injure  the  Democracy,  stating  that 
we  were  regarded  as  an  embarassment  rather  than  a  benefit 
to  the  party  (we  had  heard  the  same  from  other  sources). 
Mackey  stated  that  the  plan  of  the  Eadical  leaders  was  to 
be  passive  for  a  time,  allege  that  they  were  restrained  from 
canvassing  from  fear  of  violence;  meantime  to  excite  riot, 
and  violence  among  the  colored  race,  cause  bloodshed,  and 
thus  invoke  military  interference.  He  expressed  his  con- 
viction, that  such  was  the  State  and  National  plan,  and 
events  have  proved  the  correctness  of  this.  Judge  Cooke 
confirmed  the  views  above  stated,  stating  he  knew  of  contem- 
plated riot  and  bloodshedding  from  conversations  with  lead- 
ing Eepublicans  with  whom  he  was  allied  up  to  that  time. 
It  was  resolved  to  do  nothing  until  after  consulting  the 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  181 

National  Executive  Committee.  This  was  communicated  to 
General  Hampton,  and  he  decided  that  nothing  be  done 
unless  Mr.  Tilden  signified  that  he  wanted  it  done  for  his 
own  sake,  the  withdrawal  then  to  be  under  protest  stating 
plot  as  laid  down  by  Judges  Mackay  and  Cooke,  announcing 
withdrawal  because  of  intervention  of  military  force  to 
rob  us  of  the  right  to  vote.  General  Hampton  wrote  to  Mr. 
Tilden  through  Mr.  Manton  Marble,  and  I  to  Mr.  Hewitt. 
Before  any  answers  were  received,  Hampton  decided  it  was 
not  wise,  or  proper.  Tilden  and  Hewitt  assured  us  that 
we  were  not  an  embarrassment  but  an  aid  to  the  National 
cause,  and  it  was  never  again  thought  of.  ...  Alone 
our  victory  would  have  been  a  plaything,  but  together  with 
the  National  Democracy,  we  bore  the  brunt  of  the  force  of 
the  administration — State  and  National — canvassed  under 
the  watchful  eyes  of  the  professional  detectives,  who  were 
backed  by  bristling  bayonets ;  voted  over  the  bayonet's  point ; 
we  won  from  the  enemy  15,000  to  17,000  votes  and  carried 
the  State  for  Tilden,  as  well  as  Hampton.  If  there  has  been 
a  champion  for  Tilden,  it  has  been  Hampton." 

The  following  is  the  material  portion  of  Hampton's  letter 
to  Tilden  through  Marble : 

"There  is  no  doubt  of  it  [the  election]  being  carried  for 
our  State  ticket,  for  our  opponents  would  gladly  agree  to  let 
us  elect  our  men,  if  we  withdrew  from  the  Presidential  con- 
test. Of  course  we  are  most  anxious  to  aid  in  the  general 
election,  but  you  can  understand  our  solicitude  as  to  how  we 
can  best  do  this.  If  our  alliance  is  a  load,  we  will  unload. 
If  our  friends  desire  us  to  carry  on  the  contest,  as  begun, 
we  shall  do  so." 

To  this  Marble  wired  Haskell : 

"It  is  agreed  here  that  your  friend's  persistence  and  his 
present  efforts  and  plans  are  wise  and  advantageous." 

I  do  not  like  to  refer  to  personal  incidents — it  seems  ego- 
tistical ;  but  generalities  are  not  so  convincing  as  the  relation 
of  things  within  one's  personal  knowledge.  And  I  am  still 
hearing  from  time  to  time  of  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  from 
the  people  of  this  State  and  section  for  substantial  assistance 
rendered  to  them  from  the  outside  in  the  campaign  of  1876. 


182  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Does  this  look  like  it?  Or  does  it  savor  of  treason  to  Tilden? 
A  very  few  days  before  the  election — on  the  Thursday  or 
Friday,  I  think,  before  the  momentous  Tuesday — F.  W.  Daw- 
son,  editor  of  the  Charleston  News  and  Courier,  and  at  that 
time  a  member  of  the  Democratic  National  Executive  Com- 
mittee, came  to  my  office  and  showed  me  a  telegram  just 
received  by  him — in  cipher,  if  I  remember  aright — from  head- 
quarters,, stating  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  raise 
more  money  for  presidential  election  expenses  at  the  North, 
and  that  f  5,000  had  been  apportioned  to  Charleston  to  raise. 
I  gave  him  a  check  from  my  firm  for  f  100,  which  was  all  that 
we  could  afford  at  the  time,  being  very  far  indeed  from  multi- 
millionaires, and  having  already  spent  over  $1,000  for  the 
cause — chiefly  for  arms  and  ammunition — and  knowing  well 
that  we  should  have  to  expend  more.  The  $5,000  were  raised 
and  sent. 

On  January  18  the  joint  committee  of  the  House  and 
Senate  of  the  United  States  made  their  report  suggesting  an 
Electoral  Bill,  which  was  generally  received  with  satisfaction 
in  Congress  and  by  the  country.  Messrs.  Morton,  Cameron, 
and  Sherman  opposed  it  vigorously.  It  passed  the  Senate  on 
January  25,  and  the  House  a  day  after.  On  March  2  Hayes 
was  declared  elected.  Meantime  matters  remained  unsettled 
in  South  Carolina,  as  far  as  Federal  interference  was  con- 
cerned, but  were  becoming  daily  more  normal  as  to  local 
government.  In  the  latter  part  of  January  the  city  of  Green- 
ville, through  a  public  meeting,  denounced  Chamberlain  "for 
attempting  to  trample  on  the  liberties  of  the  people,"  and 
pronouncing  the  Tax  Bill  of  his  Legislature  "null  and  void," 
and  pledging  the  County  to  pay  the  Hampton  taxes,  and 
none  other.  Republicans  in  the  upper  counties  also  refused 
to  pay  the  Chamberlain  taxes. 

A  case  was  got  up  for  the  Supreme  Court  to  obtain  a  de- 
cision as  to  the  legality  of  Hampton's  title.  A  convict  was 
pardoned  by  Hampton,  and  then  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Penitentiary  refused  to  recognize  the  pardon,  and  the  case 
went  to  the  Supreme  Court  on  habeas  corpus.  Before  it  was 
decided,  Chief  Justice  Moses  became  ill,  and  did  not  recover, 
but  eventually  died.  During  his  illness  the  remaining  judges 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  183 

were  Mr.  Willard  and  the  negro  Wright.  Unless  they  agreed, 
no  decision  could  be  arrived  at.  Wright  was  receiving  his 
salary  monthly  from  the  Hampton  government,  the  Cham- 
berlain "dynasty"  having  no  funds  to  pay  to  anybody,  and 
being  very  much  put  to  it,  and  obliged  to  make  private  loans 
to  keep  their  heads  above  water.  So  it  was  Wright's  interest 
to  continue  to  receive  his  pay.  Moreover  he  was — among 
other  things — a  great  gambler,  and  his  friends,  the  "states- 
men," could  beat  the  "heathen  Chinee"  in  holding  aces,  so 
that  he  nearly  always  lost,  and  had  nothing  to  fall  back  upon. 
But  his  friends  "wined  him  and  dined  him"  incessantly  at 
this  period,  to  keep  him  from  agreeing  with  Mr.  Willard. 
His  "church  sisters"  brought  him  more  and  more  liquor,  and 
prayed  and  wept  over  him  incessantly.  At  length  he  got 
what  they  termed  the  "delirious  freemens,"  and  was  laid  up 
for  a  fortnight.  However,  before  succumbing  to  this  mys- 
terious malady,  he  signed  an  order  in  connection  with  Judge 
Willard  releasing  the  convict,  thus  adjudicating  Hampton 
Governor.  Before  doing  so,  he  stipulated  that  the  order 
should  not  be  filed  for  two  days,  "because,"  he  said,  "it  will 
seriously  endanger  my  personal  safety,  if  not  my  life,  at  the 
hands  of  persons  of  my  own  race  and  party."  He  came  to 
Hampton  and  informed  him  that  he  feared  that  he  would 
be  driven  out  of  the  State  by  persons  of  his  own  color,  but 
the  General  told  him  not  to  be  at  all  alarmed,  and  that,  if  he 
should  be  "driven  out,"  he  would  go  along  with  him.  After- 
ward he  wished  to  withdraw  his  signature,  but  it  was  too 
late,  and  so  this  profound  jurist  went  on  another  spree,  dis- 
appearing altogether  for  a  fortnight.  The  Hampton  govern- 
ment was  now  recognized  by  all  the  Circuit  Judges,  and 
affairs  began  to  become  normal  in  the  courts. 

Commissions  were  issued  to  militia  officers,  and  a  consid- 
erable force  thus  organized  from  the  rifle  clubs,  and  they 
were  a  very  much  better  class  of  troops  than  ordinary  militia. 

Everywhere  patiently  working  untiringly  day  and  night, 
Hampton  was  gaining,  Chamberlain  weakening.  Even  Presi- 
dent Grant  said,  if  Chamberlain  could  not  collect  taxes  and 
sustain  himself,  he  could  not  be  maintained  by  the  whole 
army  of  the  United  States. 


184  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

Before  the  select  committee  at  Washington  considering 
the  President's  message  in  regard  to  the  use  of  troops  in 
the  Southern  States  at  the  elections,  called  for  by  previous 
action  of  the  House,  A.  C.  Haskell  testified  that  there  was  no 
insurrection,  or  threatened  disturbance  in  South  Carolina 
before,  or  after  the  late  election  calling  for  the  interposition 
of  troops.  He  saw  Federal  soldiers  on  guard  at  the  State 
House  inspecting  the  certificates  of  the  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly.  The  officers  of  the  army  took  their  instruc- 
tions from  and  acted  under  orders  of  O.  A.  Jones,  private 
secretary  for  Chamberlain.  The  Legislature  was  organized 
by  United  States  soldiers  in  the  interest  of  Chamberlain. 

Mr.  Robertson,  one  of  the  Republican  United  States  Sen- 
ators from  South  Carolina,  said  in  the  Senate,  speaking  on  a 
resolution  introduced  by  General  Gordon,  of  Georgia,  to 
recognize  Hampton  as  Governor,  that  there  had  been  no 
intimidation  by  whites  on  election  day,  and  very  little  during 
the  campaign,  but  that  there  was  great  and  incessant  intimi- 
dation by  Radical  negroes  of  other  negroes,  and  also  that 
there  were  very  many  more  fraudulent  votes  cast  by  the 
Republicans  than  by  the  Democrats.  He  cited  details  show- 
ing some  3,000  bogus  Chamberlain  votes  polled  in  Beaufort 
County,  a  negro  stronghold.  He  favored  the  recognition  of 
Hampton  as  inevitable  and  in  the  interests  of  peace  and 
order. 

Even  The  National  Republican  (extreme  Radical  organ) 
came  out  in  the  latter  part  of  February  for  fraternity,  "bury- 
ing the  hatchet,"  and  "letting  the  South  alone." 

On  February  20  a  thing  occurred  which  had  much  better 
not  have  occurred.  The  Hampton  militia  were  arranging  to 
parade  in  Columbia  and  Charleston  on  Febraury  22,  Wash- 
ington's Birthday.  The  personnel  was  the  same  as  that  of 
the  former  rifle  clubs.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Black,  Eighteenth 
Infantry,  stationed  at  Columbia,  in  the  Capitol,  sent  to  the 
Hampton  authorities  the  following  communication — very 
reluctantly  sent  it — quoting  the  Secretary  of  War's  exact 
words : 

"His  Excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
directs  me  to  notify  you,  that  the  members  of  the  so-called 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  185 

rifle  clubs,  who  under  his  proclamation  of  17th  October  last 
were  instructed  to  disband,  are  not  to  make  any  public 
demonstration,  or  parade,  on  22nd  instant,  as  is  said  to  be 
contemplated."  He  added,  "My  orders  require  me  to  see  that 
no  such  parade  takes  place." 

When  this  was  received,  a  messenger  was  on  the  way  from 
Hampton  to  invite  Black's  Kegiment  to  lead  in  the  parade, 
and  this  much  embarrassed  the  latter,  who  was  an  unwilling 
instrument. 

Governor  Hampton  on  this  issued  the  following  proclama- 
tion: 

"Executive  Chamber, 

"Columbia,  S.  C.,  Feb.  20,  1877. 

"His  Excellency,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  hav- 
ing ordered  that  the  white  militia  companies  of  the  State 
shall  not  parade  on  22nd  instant  to  celebrate  Washington's 
Birthday;  in  deference  to  the  office  he  holds.  I  hereby  call 
upon  these  organizations  to  postpone  to  some  future  day 
this  manifestation  of  their  respect  to  the  memory  of  that 
illustrious  President  whose  highest  ambition  it  was,  as  it  was 
his  chief  glory,  to  observe  the  Constitution,  and  to  obey  the 
laws  of  his  country.  If  the  arbitrary  commands  of  a  Chief 
Magistrate,  who  has  not  sought  to  emulate  the  virtues  of 
Washington,  deprives  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  the  privi- 
lege of  joining  publicly  in  paying  reverence  to  that  day  so 
sacred  to  every  American  patriot,  we  can  at  least  show  by 
our  obedience  to  constituted  authority,  however  arbitrarily 
exercised,  that  we  are  not  unworthy  to  be  the  countrymen  of 
Washington.  We  must,  therefore,  remit  to  some  more  auspi- 
cious period,  which,  I  trust,  is  not  far  distant,  the  exercise  of 
our  right  to  commemorate  the  civic  virtues  of  that  unsullied 
character,  who  wielded  his  sword  only  to  found,  and  perpet- 
uate, that  American  Constitutional  liberty  which  is  now 
denied  to  the  citizens  of  South  Carolina. 

"WADE  HAMPTON,  Governor." 

The  action  of  the  President  was  received  with  an  almost 
universal  condemnation  from  the  journals  of  both  parties  at 
the  North,  and  Hampton's  proclamation  was  approved  with- 
out dissent.  It  was  pointed  out  that  the  President  had  no 


186  HAMPTON  AND  ^RECONSTRUCTION 

more  lawful  power  to  prohibit  a  Washington  Birthday 
parade  in  Columbia  and  Charleston,  than  to  do  the  same 
thing  in  New  York  or  Boston.  It  was  noted,  too,  that  the 
negro  militia  had  not  been  forbidden  to  parade  until  after- 
ward. There  were  many  heated  comments  by  members  of 
both  parties  at  the  North.  One  Northern  newspaper  asked : 
"What  is  the  reason  for  this  barrack-room  order  in  time  of 
peace?  Is  it  because  Washington  was  a  Southerner f  Is  it 
sought  to  treat  his  memory  with  disrespect  because  he  always 
acted  strictly  within  the  law?  Are  we  to  be  ordered  not  to 
celebrate  the  birthday  of  Abraham  Lincoln  because  he,  too, 
was  of  Southern  birth,  and  a  respecter  of  law  and  liberty?" 
In  fact  special  significance  was  attached  to  the  incident — it 
makes  so  much  difference  whose  ox  is  gored.  Intense  excite- 
ment was  prevailing  all  over  the  country,  attention  being 
absorbed  by  the  Electoral  Commission  now  in  session,  and 
every  hour,  almost  every  minute,  was  bringing  important 
reports,  sometimes  true,  as  often  false.  Morton  (Thaddeus 
Stevens's  old  running-mate)  and  his  party  had  bitterly  op- 
posed the  passage  of  the  Electoral  Bill,  and  their  threats  were 
now  audible  of  non-submission  to  its  findings,  if  unfavorable 
to  their  interests.  It  was  well-known,  that  this  faction  of  the 
dominant  party  would  stop  at  nothing  and  had  influence  over 
the  Executive,  and  there  were  observed — or  imagined — cer- 
tain ominous  movements  of  troops,  which  many  people  feared 
might  indicate  the  purpose  of  a  coup  d'etat.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  feeling  of  unrest  and  dread  exercised  a  certain 
duress — unconsciously  to  themselves,  perhaps — upon  the 
action  of  the  Electoral  Commission.  So  when  this  order  con- 
trolling State  militia  was  flashed  upon  the  public — without 
any  plausible  explanation — it  added  to  the  apprehensions, 
which  were  filling  the  air.  It  was  understood  that  the  Ex- 
ecutive had  said  that,  in  the  event  of  there  not  being  a  new 
President  inaugurated  on  March  4,  he  would  hold  over, 
whereas,  it  was  contended  that  he  should  yield  the  place  to 
Mr.  Ferry,  the  President  of  the  Senate,  a  civilian  and  a 
moderate  man  not  bound  to  any  faction,  although  a  Kepub- 
lican. 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  187 

But  whatever  the  effect  on  others,  the  incident  greatly  con- 
tributed to  Hampton's  credit,  for  his  dignity  and  forbear- 
ance and  perfect  manliness  in  the  treatment  of  the  matter 
could  not  but  excite  general  admiration. 

One  of  the  very  agreeable  accompaniments  of  this  affair 
was  the  spontaneous  burst  of  warm-heartedness  from  the 
Georgia  militia.  They  all  sent  by  telegram  the  kindest  of 
invitations  to  the  South  Carolina  militia,  obstructed  illegally 
in  their  own  State,  to  join  them  in  parading  on  Washington's 
Birthday.  This,  together  with  all  the  valuable  assistance 
during  these  trying  times  so  freely  rendered  by  Senator 
John  B.  Gordon,  left  a  deep  impression. 

Bloodshed,  accompanied  by  the  old  slogan  of  "rebellion," 
would,  in  the  hysterical  state  of  the  public  mind,  have  been 
a  most  valuable  asset  to  the  political  heirs  of  Thaddeus  Ste- 
vens. To  this  fact  the  order  owes  its  origin  in  all  probability. 
But,  whatever  the  real  cause  may  have  been,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  was  the  strongest  provocation  to  bloodshed  that 
could  have  been  devised.  Kemember,  that  this  people  had 
been  for  ten  long  and  weary  years  suffering  the  tortures  of 
the  damned  in  an  inferno  of  chaos  combined  with  despotism 
such  as  their  Anglo-Saxon  race  had  never  experienced.  Bear 
in  mind,  that  by  their  unaided  exertions,  and  with  but  scant 
sympathy,  even  from  the  outside,  they  had  exacted  from  fate 
their  redemption,  for  the  election  and  installation  of  the 
Governor  of  their  choice  were  now  certain,  and  it  was  also 
generally  known  that  with  the  inauguration  of  either  Hayes 
or  Tilden  the  Southern  policy  of  the  Washington  adminis- 
tration would  become  humane  and  patriotic.  And  thus,  after 
a  decade  of  black  night,  full  of  miseries,  horrors  and  delirious 
dreams,  they  felt  that  the  glorious  sunrise  was  near  at  hand ; 
*  *  it  had  not  yet  come,  but  already  the  light  of  gray  dawn 
was  transforming  their  world  from  a  hideous  prison-pen  into 
a  thing  of  beauty  to  their  eyes — pleasant  glimpses  of  the 
future  were  opening  up  through  the  vistas.  And  now  comes 
this  unprovoked  blow  in  the  face.  The  manhood  in  them 
cried  out  against  abject  submission  to  an  edict  no  more 
morally  or  legally  justifiable  than  would  be  a  similar  one 


188  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

addressed  to  the  English  people  by  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  for- 
bidding them  to  do  honor  to  the  birthday  of  Queen  Victoria. 
What!  Had  not  they  before  that  been  "proclaimed"?  Had 
the  rifle-clubs  been  thereby  "dispersed"?  Had  it  not,  on  the 
contrary,  proved  a  bugle-blast  calling  to  the  front  every  man 
worthy  of  the  name,  armed  to  the  teeth?  Was  the  soldiery 
now  to  attack  the  people  peacefully  and  lawfully  assembled? 
A  hoarse,  ominous  murmur  from  the  people  became  audible, 
which  might  well  have  burst  into  a  deafening  roar,  drowning 
all  expostulation,  but  the  merciful  God  of  Peace  spoke  from 
the  lips  of  Hampton,  "Submit  yet  awhile."  Bloodshed  was 
thus  prevented,  quiet  restored,  as  it  had  been  by  his  few 
calmly  uttered  words  at  the  State  House  in  Columbia  in 
that  impressive  scene,  which  I  have  already  attempted  to 
describe. 

On  February  27,  a  letter  signed  by  Messrs.  Stanley 
Mathews  and  Charles  Foster,  close  personal  friends  of  Mr. 
Hayes,  was  given  to  Senator  John  B.  Gordon,  of  Georgia, 
outlining  what  the  Southern  policy  of  Mr.  Hayes  would  be, 
if  declared  President.  The  Southern  States  were  to  be 
allowed  to  control  their  own  affairs  without  Federal  inter- 
ference. 

On  March  4,  Mr.  Hayes,  the  decision  of  the  Electoral  Com- 
mission in  his  favor  having  been  acquiesced  in  after  some 
demur,  was  duly  inaugurated,  and  the  country  breathed 
freely  once  again.  He  was  recognized  as  an  upright  man, 
who  would  endeavor  to  do  his  duty  and  obey  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  laws.  He  was  not  the  choice  of  the  people,  as  by 
the  popular  vote  he  was  in  a  very  decided  minority,  nor  had 
he  fairly  received  a  majority  of  the  real  electoral  vote,  but, 
as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  his  title  was  honorably  based 
upon  the  decision  of  the  Electoral  Commission.  But  the  very 
fact  of  his  title  being  unique  and  not  derived  from  the  people, 
would  naturally,  on  a  conscientious  man,  such  as  he  certainly 
was,  have  a  sobering  and  steadying  effect  and  keep  him,  it 
was  felt,  within  the  law.  This  proved  true,  and  it  was  high 
time  that  the  country  should  come  to  its  old  safe  moorings, 
or  wreck  was  ahead. 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  189 

At  first  the  Radical  party  in  South  Carolina  had  hoped 
against  hope  from  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Hayes,  but  its 
members  almost  immediately  "gave  in"  and  tried  to  make 
peace  for  themselves  with  "the  powers  that  be."  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain was  fast  being  stranded  alone  among  the  Federal  bay- 
onets at  the  Capitol.  On  March  6  Stanley  Mathews,  after 
consultation  with  Haskell  at  Washington,  wrote  a  letter  to 
Chamberlain  broadly  though  politely  suggesting  that  he  had 
better  give  up  the  contest.  Mr.  Evarts  wrote  a  polite  mes- 
sage on  the  letter,  saying  that  he  had  read  it.  This  was  a 
shot  between  wind  and  water  to  an  already  practically 
sunken  craft.  Mr.  Chamberlain  replied,  as  he  naturally 
would,  from  his  standpoint,  and  no  fault  can  be  found  with 
that,  but  added  unnecessarily,  it  was  thought,  some  words 
that  when  known  gave  offense.  They  were : 

"I  have  been  exposed  to  personal  danger  by  day  and  night 
constantly  for  five  full  months,  and  I  am  wearied  to  death." 

The  fact  of  his  having  been  in  any  personal  danger  was 
indignantly  denied.  It  was  pointed  out,  in  the  first  place, 
that  he  had  been  at  liberty  to  leave  at  any  time  he  chose,  and 
remained  only  for  his  own  personal  interests;  that  he  had 
been  constantly  guarded  while  in  the  State  House  by  United 
States  troops,  and  his  residence  watched  by  the  "State  con- 
stabulary" and  detectives,  while  all  the  white  population  of 
the  State  had  only  themselves  to  rely  upon  for  protection, 
and  were  surrounded  by  troops  and  negroes  stirred  up  to 
turbulence.  If,  therefore,  it  was  contended,  he  was  "wearied 
to  death,"  they  themselves  could  be  excused  for  having 
nervous  prostration.  But  still  more  loudly  they  exclaimed, 
that,  whatever  faults  had  been  justly  or  unjustly  laid  at  the 
door  of  the  Southern  people,  no  one  had  ever  imputed  cow- 
ardice to  them,  and  that  assassination  was  the  quintessence 
of  cowardice.  They  pointed  out  that  the  Reconstruction 
Acts  had  created  many  and  untold  evils — among  others,  rape 
and  lynchings — but  that  even  those  Reconstruction  Acts  had 
never  been  able  to  naturalize  assassination,  which  was  held 
in  immeasurable  contempt  and  loathing. 

There  is  but  a  step,  it  is  said,  from  the  sublime  to  the 
ridiculous,  and  of  this  one  is  reminded  by  some  of  the  straits 


190  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  which  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  put  toward  the  end  of  his 
political  existence.  He  had  by  that  time  ceased  to  be  a  trage- 
dian in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  and  had  become  involuntarily 
a  light  and  airy  comedian.  Our  Nemesis  can  find  few  crueler 
instruments  of  torture  than  the  lash  of  ridicule — many  men 
in  misfortune  would  rather  be  shot  at  than  laughed  at.  Not 
only  had  Mr.  Chamberlain's  castles  in  Spain  collapsed  in 
ruins,  "the  cloud-capp'd  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces" 
"melted  into  air,  into  thin  air,"  the  "unsubstantial  pageant 
faded,"  leaving  "not  a  rack  behind."  This  was  bad  enough, 
but  might  be  borne  with  more  or  less  equanimity,  if  the  ele- 
ment of  self-supposed  dignity  had  not  also  "faded"  "like  the 
baseless  fabric  of  this  vision."  To  be  reduced  from  the  heroic 
role1  acclaimed  throughout  Stevensdom  of  champion  of  "the 
rights  of  man,"  defender  of  "a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count" 
(or  was  it  only  a  free  count?),  and  changed  into  a  political 
mendicant,  locked  out  of  the  tills  of  the  taxpayers,  and  com- 
pelled to  buttonhole  in  vain  for  loans  every  one  whom  he 
could  think  of ;  after  having  long  been  "clothed  in  purple  and 
fine  linen  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day"  at  the  expense 
of  his  neighbors,  to  be  reduced  to  the  "cold  wittles"  of  a 
defeated  "statesman,"  and  to  be  deafened  by  the  unavailing 
clamors  of  his  "faithful  few"  for  "change"  for  market  and 
wails  for  drink,  and  the  "bar'l"  empty ;  to  be  gravely  reproved 
and  even  vilified  by  former  Northern  friends,  who  had  been 
until  lately  hounding  him  on  to  obtain  the  electoral  vote  at 
any  price  of  criminality ;  after  -leaving  for  the  last  time  the 
State  House,  and  alone,  deserted  by  all,  driving  through 
unfrequented,  silent  streets  in  a  hired  hack  to  his  temporary 
home,  to  realize  that  he  must  for  the  first  time  pay  the  fare 
out  of  his  own  pocket  instead  of  as  formerly  from  the  public 
treasury — all  this,  and  much  more  like  it,  must  have  been 
very  trying  indeed,  and  the  best  that  he  could  hope  for  from 
the  public  was,  not  sympathy,  but  a  smile  of  amusement.  It 
is  one  thing  to  imagine  one's  self,  when  "the  jig  is  up,"  a 
Roman  hero  falling  on  his  sword,  and  quite  another  to  know 
one's  self  to  be,  in  plain  English,  only  a  defeated  and  offi- 
cially "hard-up"  politician  (officially  "hard-up"  only,  of 
course,  for  naturally  there  would  be  treasures  laid  up,  not  in 


INAUGURATION  AND  ADMINISTRATION  191 

Heaven,  perhaps,  but  at  the  North,  in  safety  from  molesta- 
tion). If  it  were  not  for  fear  of  being  accused  of  undue 
levity,  I  should  be  inclined  to  "size  up"  the  situation  by  quot- 
ing a  unique  epitaph,  the  appreciative  tribute  to  the  stren- 
uous but  unfortunate  deceased : 

"He  done  his  d — dest,  and  no  one  can't  do  no  more." 


192  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

CHAPTER  EIGHTH 
PRESIDENT  HAYES  RESTORES  CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

Peace  in  the  crowded  town, 

Peace  In  a  thousand  fields  of  waving  grain, 

Peace  in  the  highway  and  the  flowery  lane, 
Peace  on  the  windswept  down  ! 

Peace  on  the  farthest  seas, 

Peace  in  our  sheltered  bays  and  ample  streams, 

Peace  whereso'er  our  starry  garland  gleams, 
And  peace  in  every  breeze ! 

Peace  in  the  whirring  marts, 

Peace  where  the  scholar  thinks,  the  hunter  roams, 
Peace,  God  of  Peace,  peace,  peace,  in  all  our  homes, 

And  peace  in  all  our  hearts ! 

— Henry  Timrod. 

As  time  went  on  after  Mr.  Hayes's  inauguration,  impa- 
tience began  to  be  manifested  with  the  delay  in  carrying  out 
the  promised  withdrawal  of  troops.  It  had  always  been  the 
fixed  intention  of  the  community  never  again  to  submit  to 
negro  rule.  They  had  fairly  and  squarely  elected  their  own 
government,  and  it  was  now  in  working  order.  They  would 
exhaust  all  peaceable  legal  means  to  regain  their  rights,  but, 
failing  that,  in  the  end  they  would  render  it  necessary  to 
establish  and  permanently  sustain  absolute  military  govern- 
ment administered  by  white  men;  either  real  representative 
government  or  the  naked  bayonet,  but  never  again  the  negro 
as  ruler.  No  question  but  that  Mr.  Hayes  was  acting  in  good 
faith,  but  great  impediments  were  sought  to  be  put  in  his 
way  by  the  faction  in  his  own  party  hostile  to  him,  and  then 
the  Louisiana  problem  was  not  yet  settled.  Hayes  tenta- 
tively put  out  the  proposition  to  Hampton  which  had  already 
been  made  to  him  by  Radicals  in  the  State — to  have  another 
election  and  abide  by  the  result.  The  Governor  replied  that 
he  would  consent  to  this,  provided  Mr.  Hayes  would  agree  to 
abide  by  the  result  of  another  Presidential  election,  but  not 
otherwise.  Then  a  commission,  somewhat  the  same  in  prin- 
ciple as  the  electoral  one,  was  proposed,  but  this  was  also 
declined. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  193 

The  newspapers  at  the  North  began  to  criticize  Mr.  Hayes 
pretty  severely  for  not  acting.  So  on  March  23  he  wrote  a 
very  friendly  letter  to  Hampton  asking  him,  if  convenient,  to 
pay  him  a  visit  in  Washington  to  talk  matters  over,  and  the 
General  wrote  on  March  26  that  he  would  accept  the  invita- 
tion. He  briefly  explains  in  his  letter  to  Hayes  the  situation, 
and  says:  "I  give  the  assurance  that  no  proscription  shall 
be  exercised  here  on  account  of  political  opinions;  that  no 
discrimination  shall  be  made  in  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  that  all  citizens  of  both  parties  and  both  races  shall  be 
regarded  and  fully  protected  by  and  amenable  to  the  laws." 

Hayes  also  wrote  inviting  Mr.  Chamberlain  to  come  on  to 
see  him,  which  he  did. 

So  Hampton  went  to  Washington,  accompanied  by  General 
M.  C.  Butler.  A  committee  of  citizens  of  Charleston  inter- 
ested in  commercial  matters  also  went  on  to  Washington  to 
confer  with  the  President. 

Hampton's  trip  was  one  continuous  ovation.  At  every  rail- 
way station  a  crowd  was  present,  when  the  train  stopped,  to 
express  the  admiration  of  the  people.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has 
such  a  genuine,  spontaneous,  popular  outburst  been  wit- 
nessed. It  was  not  confined  to  places  in  his  own  State;  the 
feeling  was  equally  appreciative  in  North  Carolina  and  Vir- 
ginia. When  in  Washington,  admirers  wished  to  make  a 
great  popular  demonstration  in  a  serenade,  but  he  persuaded 
them  that  it  was  better  not  to  do  this. 

On  March  29  General  Hampton,  accompanied  by  his  Attor- 
ney-General, Conner,  and  by  Senator  Gordon  of  Georgia,  had 
a  very  pleasant  interview  with  Mr.  Hayes.  He  dined  that 
evening  with  Mr.  Evarts,  and  was  during  his  stay  in  Wash- 
ington constantly  meeting  people,  turning  those  hitherto 
opposed  politically  to  him  into  personal  friends,  and  warm- 
ing up  to  steam  heat  the  hearts  of  old  acquaintances,  for  he 
possessed  in  a  most  remarkable  degree,  as  has  before  been 
pointed  out,  that  wonderful  influence  over  men,  call  it  mag- 
netic, psychic,  whatever  you  like,  a  very  real  and  grand  power 
over  one's  fellow-men. 

At  length  Mr.  Hayes  was  "hypnotized"  by  Hampton,  and 
on  April  2  agreed  to  withdraw  the  troops,  and  let  Hamptoit 


194  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

take  possession  of  the  Capitol.  This  the  Governor  promised 
he  would  do  by  legal  means  if  necessary,  and  not  by  force. 
If  Mr.  Chamberlain  still  declined,  after  the  withdrawal  of  the 
troops,  to  vacate  the  Capitol,  he  would  proceed  against  him 
by  law,  eject  him  in  that  manner,  not  using  harshly  the 
treason  process,  which  could  have  been  done,  but  acting  under 
a  statute  against  such  as  attempted  to  carry  on  government 
under  pretended  authority.  Hampton  renewed  his  assur- 
ances of  peace  given  Hayes  by  letter,  and  wired  Mr.  Simpson, 
Lieutenant-Governor : 

"Everything  is  satisfactorily  and  honorably  settled.  I  ex- 
pect our  people  to  preserve  absolute  peace  and  quiet.  My 
word  is  pledged  for  them.  I  rely  on  them." 

The  withdrawal  of  troops  was  fixed  for  April  10. 

The  return  of  Hampton  was  marked  by  even  greater  pop- 
ular demonstrations  along  the  route  than  his  trip  to  Wash- 
ington had  been.  Railway  stations  were  ornamented  with 
bunting  of  welcome  and  garlanded  with  flowers.  A  deputation 
in  a  special  train  from  Columbia  met  him  at  Charlotte,  N.  C., 
and  a  great  mass  meeting  was  held  there,  followed  by  a  recep- 
tion. It  was  a  "royal  progress"  all  the  way !  On  his  arrival 
at  Columbia  he  was  met  by  thousands,  and  escorted  by  a 
procession  to  his  home.  In  each  case  he  acquainted  the  peo- 
ple in  a  speech  with  what  he  had  done  in  their  name  and  for 
their  benefit,  and  as  to  what  was  expected  of  them  and  prom- 
ised in  their  behalf. 

There  was  on  his  return  a  "landslide"  of  Republicans  to 
Hampton.  They  all  wanted  to  get  aboard  the  Democratic 
wagon.  "Honest  John"  Patterson,  Senator,  promised  to 
cease  all  opposition  and  to  support  General  Butler  for  his 
position  in  the  Senate.  The  Republican  leaders  now  gen- 
erally said  that  Hampton's  election  was  for  the  good  of  the 
State  and  everyone  in  it,  and  expressed  great  satisfaction 
with  the  character  of  his  addresses. 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  too,  •  returned  to  Columbia,  and  to  the 
State  House.  He  had  been  urged  by  the  "Stalwarts,"  who  had 
quarreled  with  Hayes,  to  hold  on  to  the  last  gasp,  as  they 
wished  to  do  all  that  they  could  to  embarrass  the  President. 
But  within  the  last  twenty-four  hours  before  the  time  fixed 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  195 

for  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  he  concluded  that  further 
opposition  was  not  advisable,  and  Hampton  took  possession, 
as  arranged  between  them,  on  the  morning  of  April  11. 

At  exactly  twelve  o'clock  of  April  10,  the  order  was  heard 
in  the  Capitol : 

"Attention !" 

"Take  arms !" 

"Unfix  bayonets!" 

"Carry  arms !" 

"Count  fours!" 

"Twos  right!" 

"March!" 

Thus  ended  the  most  deplorable  drama,  of  using  troops  to 
carry  elections  in  South  Carolina.  God  grant  that  it  ended 
thus  forever  in  America.  In  His  mercy  this  time  He  raised 
up  Hampton,  with  courage,  patience,  temper,  and  wisdom 
most  wonderful,  but  human  endurance  has  its  limits. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  thought  well  to  issue  an  address,  nom- 
inally to  his  constituents  but  really  intended,  no  doubt,  for 
the  country.  It  was  all  a  repetition  of  the  old  story  of  which 
the  country  was  now  heartily  tired,  for  it  had  heard  and 
seen  Hampton.  It  also  took  Hayes  severely  to  task.  The 
newspapers  at  the  North  were  not  generally  at  all  compli- 
mentary in  their  comments  on  it.  The  Springfield  Republi- 
can called  it  "a  case  of  excusable  cussing." 

The  New  York  Sun  said:  "Chamberlain's  piratical  ship 
goes  down  defiantly  with  the  bloody  shirt  nailed  to  the  mast." 

The  New  York  Herald  said:  "The  protest  is  an  insult  to 
the  common  sense  and  moral  feeling  of  the  country." 

The  Philadelphia  Times  remarked:  "He  retired  ungra- 
ciously and  ungracefully,"  and  adds:  "The  dispassionate 
men  of  all  parties  will  see  in  his  bombastic  and  reckless  ap- 
peal only  a  terrible  arraignment  of  himself,  if  only  half  be 
true  that  he  alleges  as  the  condition  of  South  Carolina." 

The  New  York  World  put  it :  "A  hollow  sound." 

And  so  on  with  others. 

However,  at  this  distance  of  time,  it  seems  to  those  not 
behind  the  scenes  in  the  Republican  camp,  that  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain was,  at  the  end,  badly  treated  by  his  party,  unless  there 


196  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

has  been  recompense  unknown  to  us.  An  estimate  of  the 
kind  of  campaign  carried  on  and  methods  used  may  be 
made  from  this  narrative,  but  at  all  events  it  was  openly 
done  with  the  approbation  or  at  the  instigation  of  the  lead- 
ing faction  at  that  time  in  the  party,  and  it  caused  Hayes  to 
be  President.  How  much  of  the  cruelty  and  severity  of  the 
campaign  measures  made  use  of  by  Federal  officials  was 
without  his  privity  and  desire  we  have  no  means  of  knowing, 
but  between  the  pressure  from  that  quarter  and  from  the 
irresponsible,  reckless,  and  desperate  Radical  element  in  the 
State,  it  can  be  inferred  that  he  was  swept  along  against  his 
original  purposes  by  an  irresistible  current.  In  this  narra- 
tive, however,  we  can  only  relate,  without  prejudice  against 
anyone,  the  facts  of  the  case  as  they  appear  on  the  record. 
Probably,  after  all,  his  address  was  intended  as  a  brief  of  his 
case  for  his  party.  It  was  said  at  the  time  that  he  was 
offered  a  mission  abroad. 

One  of  the  first  fruits  of  Senator  ("Honest  John")  Pat- 
terson's repentance,  vowed  to  Hampton  on  bended  knee  at 
Washington,  was  to  be  the  release,  and  entering  of  nol  pros. 
in  the  cases  against  citizens  arrested  on  charges  of  "con- 
spiracy to  deprive  the  negroes  of  the  right  to  vote."  Accord- 
ing to  Patterson,  these  numbered  seven  hundred — it  is 
natural  to  suppose  an  underestimate — and  the  arrested  were 
chiefly  in  the  rural  districts,  where  homes  would  be  thus 
rendered  unprotected,  and  much  hardship  result.  This  num- 
ber would  be  about  one  per  cent,  of  the  total  white  voting 
population  of  the  State,  but  of  course  a  very  much  larger 
percentage  of  the  white  voters  in  the  country  districts,  where 
these  arrests  had  been  made.  Estimating  each  family,  whose 
male  bread-winners  and  protectors  were  thus  taken  from 
them,  to  average  four  persons,  this  would  show  at  least  two 
thousand  eight  hundred  people  on  farms  and  in  hamlets  left 
in  a  condition  of  misery  by  this  "plan  of  campaign."  The 
charges  against  them  were  "trumped  up"  on  irresponsible 
negro  affidavits  (at  "one-fifty  for  one,  or  eighteen  dollars  a 
dozen" ) ,  and  were  now  generally  admitted  to  have  been  with- 
out foundation  in  fact.  All  this  was  done  in  order  that  Mr. 
Morton  and  his  friends  should  obtain  the  electoral  vote  of  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  197 

State  and  a  President  supposedly  favorable  to  their  personal 
interests.  If  this  had  been  done  in  Russia,  what  would  have 
been  said  about  it  in  the  United  States? 

Though  "Honest  John"  had  said  that  these  prosecutions 
would  be  dropped,  yet,  owing  to  his  quarreling  with  some 
of  his  former  friends  or  for  some  other  reason,  they  all 
were  not  nol  pressed.  In  May  the  so-called  Ellenton  rioteri 
(the  whites,  not  the  blacks)  were  tried  before  the  Unitedt 
States  Circuit  Court  in  Charleston.  The  District  Attorney 
managed  to  exclude  all  white  men  from  the  jury,  except  such 
as  could  take  the  "iron-clad  oath,"  i.  e.,  that  they  had  not 
served  in  the  Confederate  army,  which  excluded  nearly  all 
men  not  cripples  within  a  certain  age;  and  the  rest  of  the 
jurors  were  negroes,  such  as  always  could  be  found  hanging 
around  court-houses,  anxious  to  serve  on  juries  in  political 
cases,  and  pocket  money  without  work.  But  it  was  as 
well.  For  there  was  one  acquittal,  and  all  the  other  cases 
turned  out  mistrials,  the  negroes  invariably  going  for  con^ 
viction,  and  the  white  jurymen  (though  "iron-clad  oath'' 
men )  for  acquittal.  It  was  a  perfect  vindication  of  the 
accused.  It  was  proved  that  the  affair  originated  in  an 
attempt  at  rape  made  by  two  negroes  upon  a  white  woman^ 
and  that  the  whites  by  the  posse  saved  the  entire  section  from 
being  destroyed  by  the  negroes,  evidently  incited  by  prearj 
rangement  for  the  political  purposes  of  the  canvass.  But  the 
accused  had  been  put  to  great  anxiety  for  themselves  and 
families,  loss  of  time,  and  expense  by  the  prosecutions,  thu^ 
suffering  irreparable  injury.  It  was  brought  out  in  the  trial 
that  before  the  riots  harangues  were  being  freely  and  openl^ 
made  to  the  negroes,  inciting  them  to  murder  and  arson. 

If  anyone  really  feared  an  outbreak  from  whites  or  negroes 
on  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  and  the  acknowledged  unob- 
structed rule  of  Hampton,  the  event  proved  them  to  have 
been  entirely  mistaken.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  like  a  quiet 
Sunday  morning  after  a  turmoil ;  there  was  universal  relief. 
So  quiet  and  natural  was  the  dropping-back  to  normal 
conditions  that  the  people  could  hardly  realize  that  all  the 
artificially  produced  misery  of  the  last  eight  years  was  not 
merely  the  recollection  of  a  bad  dream,  which  had  no  real 


198  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

existence,  until  they  looked  around  them  upon  the  havoc 
made  in  their  fortunes  and  the  marring  of  the  lives  of  at 
least  two  generations.  To  the  negroes  themselves — not 
leaders  in  politics — it  was  probably  a  greater  relief  than 
even  to  the  whites.  They  had  been  so  bullied  and  badgered 
by  the  Radicals  that  they  did  not  know  where  to  turn. 
If  they  sought,  as  many  did,  their  natural  protectors, 
between  whom  and  themselves  there  was  always  a  gravita- 
tion, they  met  the  denunciations  of  their  leaders  and  still 
more  of  the  preachers  and  the  negro  women.  After  the  first 
novelty  of  voting  had  worn  off,  they  would  not  have  cared  for 
it  at  all,  if  not  inflamed  by  the  demagogues.  They  knew  full 
well  that  it  had  proved  a  fatal  gift  replete  with  evil  to  both 
themselves  and  the  white  population.  But  now  the  barriers 
set  up  by  politicians  for  their  own  benefit  were  knocked 
down — or  rather,  had  rotted  away  from  natural  causes — and 
they  were,  for  the  first  time  in  eight  years,  really  free,  and 
felt  it  so.  Moreover,  they  realized  the  conviction  that,  even  if 
there  had  been  any  vindictive  feeling  against  them  among 
citizens  of  the  other  color,  they  possessed  an  impregnable 
rock  of  defense  in  Hampton,  who  had  pledged  to  them  just 
treatment,  and  from  him  that  meant  more  than  just,  it  meant 
kindly,  considerate  treatment,  and  he  would  keep  his  promise, 
they  knew,  though  the  sky  fell.  No  one  on  the  outside  ever 
will,  ever  can — it  is  useless  to  try  to  explain — quite  under- 
stand the  mutual  feelings  between  such  a  man  as  Hampton 
and  the  blacks.  Born  the  hereditary  owner  of  vast  numbers 
of  negro  slaves,  and  saturated  with  the  inherited  feeling  of 
kindness,  protection,  considerateness  for  their  many  faults 
and  failings  and  sense  of  responsibility  for  their  happiness 
and  well-being,  he  was  not  divested  of  these  sentiments  by 
emancipation.  To  his  dying  day,  in  all  his  poverty,  no  poor 
wretch  of  a  negro  would  ever  bring  to  him  an  unheeded  tale 
of  distress  and  request  for  help;  the  last  cent  in  his  pocket 
would  be  bestowed,  and  kind  words  and  advice  as  well.  That, 
and  because,  too,  he  never  could  bring  himself  to  refuse  to 
help  an  old  fellow-soldier,  were  the  chief  reasons  why  he  died 
poor.  It  was,  also,  from  this  mutual  feeling — which  it  is 
hopeless  to  make  clear  to  this  generation  born  during  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  199 

inferno  of  Reconstruction  at  the  South,  or  residing  in  other 
and  differently  constituted  communities — that  he  possessed 
so  much  influence  on  the  votes  of  negroes  during  the  cam- 
paign. They  naturally  looked  up  to  him,  were  proud  of  him, 
proud  of  themselves  as  being  "Car'linians,"  as  he  was.  They 
never  could  have  felt  so  toward  a  stranger,  charmed  he  never 
so  wisely.  This  was  a  factor  in  the  campaign  which  the 
Radicals,  most  of  whom  really  regarded  the  blacks  as  so 
many  "dumb  driven  cattle,"  could  never  appreciate,  but  that 
is  why  the  boasted  twenty  thousand  majority  melted  away 
from  them  so  unexpectedly. 

Hampton  had  promised  Hayes,  and  reiterated  in  his 
speeches,  that  both  parties  and  colors  should  be  "protected 
by  and  amenable  to  the  laws."  This  however  did  not  make 
it  possible,  even  if  it  had  been  desirable,  to  protect  those  who 
had  been  guilty  of  flagrant  civil  crimes.  That  would  have 
been  to  compound  with  felonies.  There  were,  therefore,  a 
good  many  former  "statesmen,"  who  now  found  it  advis- 
able— or  thought  it  so — to  leave  for  pastures  new.  There  was 
no  vindictiveness — every  one  felt  too  happy  to  be  vindictive — 
but,  naturally,  with  a  carnival  of  unrestricted  rascality  in 
progress  for  eight  years,  or  more,  the  number  of  criminals  at 
large  would  have  filled  all  the  penitentiaries  in  the  United 
States,  and  half  of  them  wished  to  turn  "state's  evidence" 
against  the  other  half.  But  great  forbearance  was  shown, 
and  absolute  amnesty  was  tacitly  given  to  all  negroes,  except 
some  of  the  most  criminal  leaders,  who  incontinently  fled. 

To  those  with  a  tendency  to  philosophize,  and  having  the 
leisure  for  it,  one  of  the  strangest  features  of  the  transforma- 
tion effected  by  Hampton's  acknowledged  rule  was  that  there 
was  not,  from  the  first  moment  of  it,  a  vestige  left  of  any 
other  government.  There  were  no  debris,  no  wreckage  ma- 
terial to  be  seen ;  no  ruins.  It  had  simply  disappeared  like 
a  mirage  in  the  desert.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek ;  there 
never  had,  in  sober  truth,  been  any  government  at  all  under 
Radical  rule.  There  had  only  been  a  nebulous,  misty  phan- 
tasm of  nauseous  vapor,  in  the  air,  which  faded  out  of  sight 
immediately  when  the  bayonets  of  the  troops  were  removed, 
and  which  could  have  been  blown  away  into  space — if  the 


200  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

bayonets  had  not  been  there — at  any  time,  in  five  minutes, 
during  the  last  eight  years.  It  is  said  that  there  is  honor 
among  thieves,  but  it  was  not  so  in  this  case;  they  turned 
upon  one  another,  like  wolves  devouring  the  wounded  of  the 
pack,  and  there  was  hardly  one  who  proved  other  than  a 
coward,  when  the  time  for  bragging  was  past,  and  for  action 
had  come. 

As  political  affairs  were  now  on  a  settled  basis,  Hampton 
was  but  too  glad  to  lay  down  the  sceptre  of  dictator,  which, 
by  universal  acclamation,  he  had  been  compelled  to  assume 
eight  months  before.  He  called  a  session  of  the  Legislature 
to  meet  on  April  24.  It  is  only  fair  here  to  revert  to  the 
difficulties,  which  he  had  overcome,  backed  by  a  united  peo- 
ple, during  those  eight  months. 

Never  had  the  clouds  lowered  blacker  over  the  political, 
commercial,  and  industrial  conditions  of  South  Carolina,  and 
of  the  South  in  general,  than  they  did  in  August,  1876.  It  is 
needless  to  remind  the  reader  by  reexhibiting  the  vivid  pic- 
tures painted  by  Mr.  Pike  and  Mr.  Chamberlain.  Beside 
this,  a  Presidential  contest  was  on  of  the  closest  and  hottest 
description.  The  Morton  party  scanned  with  eager,  anxious 
eyes  the  political  prospects  in  every  State,  and  they  could 
afford  to  lose  none  which  could  by  possibility  be  held.  They 
saw  in  South  Carolina  a  popular  uprising  from  a  condition 
of  unparalleled  distress  and  misery,  which  must  be  crushed 
or  the  electoral  vote  would  be  lost  to  them,  and  that  electoral 
vote  they  considered  they  owned  by  right  of  conquest.  They, 
therefore,  employed  measures,  which  I  have  only  partially, 
but  perhaps  sufficiently,  described,  and  it  must  be  confessed 
by  any  one  at  this  date  that  they  were  "heroic  remedies" 
indeed,  such  a  spectacle  as  God  forbid  Americans  shall  ever 
again  behold.  The  "Conservatives"  had  but  limited  financial 
resources  and  many  expenses  to  meet  in  the  purchase  of 
arms,  and  ammunition  to  protect  their  homes  and  for  usual 
campaign  purposes,  and  received  no  assistance  from  outside 
the  State.  They  had  a  majority  of  negro  votes  of  twenty 
thousand  to  overcome.  All  the  electoral  machinery  of  the 
sj>-called  State  government  was  against  them,  handled  ably 
anfl  unscrupulously,  and  also  the  courts  and  legal  machinery, 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  201 

and  militia  and  State  constabulary.  The  Democrats,  black 
and  white,  were  perpetually  harried  by  the  marshal,  with 
one  thousand  deputies  and  troops,  and  intimidated  and 
obstructed  in  the  canvass.  A  patent  fraud  was  eventually 
engineered  by  Federal  officials  by  which  the  Board  of  Can- 
vassers did  their  utmost  to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
the  Legislature  was  organized  by  troops.  Moreover,  though 
Hampton  was  backed  by  the  people  and  would  have  been 
sustained  through  thick  and  thin  by  all  the  better  and  by 
far  the  larger  part  of  them,  yet  all  are  not  of  the  stuff  from 
which  heroes  are  made.  Though  ably  and  gallantly  assisted 
by  the  men  who  stood  close  to  him  and  cooperated  with  and 
obeyed  by  the  people,  yet  it  was  like  one  grand  battle  from 
August  to  April,  where  the  General  had  to  be  on  the  firing- 
line  day  and  night,  and  exercise  the  authority,  the  one-man 
power,  which  in  the  exigencies  of  battle  is  indispensable  to 
requisite  discipline  and  success.  It  was  no  time  for  debating 
societies.  All  this,  he  did,  exhibiting  a  wisdom  and  intuition, 
a  self-restraint  and  control  of  the  wills  of  the  people,  without 
which  success  would  have  been  utterly  impossible.  It  was 
for  him  and  him  alone  to  "pluck  up  drowned  honor  by  the 
locks"  for  us  all. 

The  Legislature  met  on  the  day  appointed.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  Democrats  had  a  majority  in  the  House, 
but  not  in  the  Senate.  The  Radicals  in  the  latter  body  met  in 
a  somewhat  defiant  mood,  thinking  to  have  things  their  own 
way.  But  in  this  they  found  themselves  mistaken.  There 
were  so  many  members  against  whom  criminal  prosecutions 
could  be  instituted  that  they  were  sufficiently  weeded  out.  It 
was  discovered — among  other  things — from  evidence  of  rec- 
ord in  some  of  the  public  offices,  that  Gleaves,  Whittemore, 
Nash,  and  Woodruff  had  purchased  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  champagne,  brandy,  whiskey,  and  cigars  for  their 
private  use  delivered  at  their  homes  and  paid  for  them  with 
warrants  signed  by  Woodruff,  Clerk  of  the  Senate,  and 
Gleaves,  Lieutenant-Governor.  In  one  instance  over  $5,000 
had  been  paid  out  in  this  way  and  charged  on  the  books  as 
"stationery."  Gleaves  had  been  Lieutenant-Governor  from 
1874  to  1876,  as  a  "reformer,"  and  had  claimed  to  have  been 


202  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

reflected  in  the  last  election.  He  was  a  weak-looking,  meer- 
schaum-colored mulatto.  Whittemore,  a  Congressman  ex- 
pelled from  Washington  for  cadet-peddling,  was  now  the 
chairman  of  several  Senate  committees,  a  most  sanctimonius 
fellow  in  whose  mouth  butter  would  not  melt,  with  the 
manner  of  a  "preacher,"  very  deprecatory  and  mild.  It 
also  came  out  now,  that  he  had  pocketed  some  money 
assigned  him  for  the  purchase  of  portraits  of  Lincoln  and 
Sumner  intended  for  the  Capitol.  So  he  fled  without  more 
ado,  as  did  the  others  soon  afterward.  It  seems  that  "though 
on  pleasure  bent,"  they  "had  a  frugal  mind,"  for  they  con- 
ducted barrooms  and  brothels  for  their  own  profit  at  the 
expense  of  the  State. 

When  the  houses  had  been  put  in  running  order,  Hampton 
sent  in  his  message,  which  was  a  very  able  document,  laying 
down  a  well-digested  programme.  Matters  financial  and 
otherwise  were  found  in  a  deplorable  condition,  and  long  and 
arduous  efforts  would  be  necessary  to  reestablish  a  satisfac- 
tory administration. 

How  well  and  faithfully  was  performed  by  Hampton  the 
task  of  building  up  the  waste  places  desolated  by  ten  years  of 
turbulance  and  robbery,  it  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this 
narrative  to  relate.  The  story  of  the  "crisis"  has  been  briefly 
but  fairly  told,  of  Hampton — the  Pacificator.  Nor  is  it  the 
writer's  intention  to  relate  Hampton's  career  of  two  terms  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  That  is  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  country  in  general,  and  concerns  broad  questions  not  pur- 
posed to  be  discussed  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  his  record 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  one  of  which  his  State 
may  well  be  proud,  and  that  he  and  Butler  conspicuously 
redeemed  the  honor  of  their  constituency,  which  had  been  dis- 
graced by  such  creatures  as  "Honest  John"  and  his  fellows. 

The  wounds  inflicted  upon  the  State  by  Reconstruction 
were  deep  and  gangrenous  when  Hampton  took  up  the 
reins  of  government.  The  blood-poisoning,  however,  is  not 
incurable,  and  in  two  decades  from  now  the  patient  may 
have  entirely  recovered,  provided  it  is  possible  "to  close  the 
door  of  hope"  from  the  "race-question"  to  the  ambition  of  the 
politician  and  to  the  temerity  of  the  uninformed  meddler. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  203 

For  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  leave  that  question  where  it 
belongs,  outside  of  politics,  and  to  those  who  from  birth, 
experience  and  sympathy  are  fitted  to  deal  with  it :  to  let  it 
rest  in  the  patient  and  conscientious  treatment  prescribed  by 
Hampton.     He  who  interferes  is  the  worst  enemy  the  negro 
can  have.    He  is  the  worst  enemy,  too,  that  the  white  popula- 
tion can  have,  whether  he  err  from  evil  design  or  folly  or 
both  combined,  for  he  it  will  be  who  keeps  the  South  "solid." 
She  first  was  made  so  to  her  ruin,  as  a  vassal  of  "Recon- 
struction," and  is  so  today,  as  a  free  community,  to  protect 
herself  from  the  possibility  of  a  similar  fate.    As  long  as  the 
beacons  of  danger  are  lighted,  so  long  will  there  be  an 
Eleventh  Commandment,  obeyed  as  conscientiously  as  the 
ten  handed  down  from  Sinai,  "Before  all  else,  thou  shalt 
stand  'solid'  with  thy  neighbor  against  negro  rule  under 
whatever  disguise."     Remove  the  menace,  and  the  South 
would  gladly  again,  as  she  formerly  did,  possess  two  parties 
honorably  divided  on  general  policies.    It  was  unscrupulous 
politicians  who  first  made  her  "solid";  it  is  they  only  who 
can  keep  her  so.    She  realizes  that  "solidity"  tends  to  con- 
traction and  narrowness  of  thought,  and  an  isolation  harm- 
ful to  intellectual  and  material  effort.     She  knows,  too,  that 
the  so-called  "race-question,"  come  what  may,  will  be  settled 
by  the  march  of  events,  and  that  it  is  at  most  only  a  tem- 
porary matter;    that  her  territory,  so  broad  and  fertile,  is 
ample  to  maintain  in  happiness  and  plenty  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  inhabitants,  and  that,  when  the  certain  prospect  of 
this  has  been  evolved  into  a  living  fact — as  surely  it  will  be, 
and  that,  too,  in  a  short  space,  measured  by  the  life-time  of 
races — the  negroes  will  constitute  such  a  small  percentage  of 
the  total  population  as  to  have  ceased  to  be  a  very  important 
factor  in  the  social  life  of  the  section.     But  for  that  very 
reason  is  he  the  negroes'  worst  foe  who  would  sever  them 
from  their  neighbors,  who  must  then  be  their  only  help  and 
protection.     Well  knowing  all  this,  the  South  is  also  aware 
that  meantime  grave  injury  may  be  done  to  her  in  the  future 
as  was  done  in  the  past;   that  there  is  nothing  so  evil  and 
unjust  but  that  wily  politicians,  and  ingenious  doctrinaires 


204  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

may  with  it  "fool  all  the  people  some  of  the  time,"  to  her 
detriment  and  the  disturbance  of  the  whole  country. 

Though  this  may  be  play  to  you, 
'Tis  death  to  us ! 

With  a  statesman  of  grasp  at  the  fore,  and  amateurs  and 
negrophilists  to  the  rear,  it  would  not  be  found  necessary  or 
expedient  for  the  Republican  party  to  make  a  flank  attack 
upon  the  South  through  the  attempt  to  curtail  her  Congres- 
sional representation,  for  the  purpose  of  legislating  against 
her  thus  weakened,  in  the  spirit  if  not  the  form  of  the  Recon- 
struction period.  Common  interests  would  make  allies,  if 
allowed  to  do  their  peaceful  work  uninterrupted.  There  are 
many  such  common  interests,  among  them  the  cotton-spin- 
ning industry.  The  South  now  spins  considerably  more  raw 
cotton  than  the  North.  South  Carolina  is  the  largest  spinner 
of  any  State  in  the  Union,  except  Massachusetts,  consuming 
in  her  mills  more  than  half  of  the  raw  material  which  she 
grows,  and  of  the  money  invested  in  these  enterprises  more 
than  four-fifths  is  Southern  capital.  And  so  in  the  great  iron 
industry  and  others,  there  are  interests,  and  therefore  politi- 
cal opinions,  common  to  both  sections.  With  common  inter- 
ests to  draw  the  country  together,  there  are  really  no  longer 
sectional  questions  to  separate  it.  If  our  rebellion  against 
Great  Britain  was  right,  many  might  think  "imperialism,"  or 
any  approach  to  it,  wrong ;  but  there  is  nearly  as  much  diver- 
sity in  sentiment  on  this  subject  at  the  South  as  at  the  North, 
and  so  on  with  other  public  questions,  not  excepting  even  the 
trusts.  Disintegration  of  the  "Solid  South"  can  be  arrested 
only  by  calling  back  from  a  hideous  past  the  loathsome 
specter  of  Reconstruction.  Only  let  us  alone  with  the  "black 
peril,"  and  it  will  cease  to  be  one.  Encourage  "expansion" 
in  liberality  and  toleration,  and  we  are  friends  and  brothers 
through  thick  and  thin.  For  the  "Monroe  doctrine,"  if  you 
like,  in  the  "yellow  peril,"  if  it  comes,  "our  rifles  are  your 
own." 

As  we  were  re-reading  the  above  long  after  it  had  been 
written,  a  coincidence  worth  relating  occurred.  A  large 
party  of  Northern  tourists  had  just  made  a  journey  through 
the  South  on  an  "Educational  Conference"  (the  "Ogden 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  205 

movement")  in  order  to  teach  the  Southern  people  how  to 
elevate  the  Southern  negro  by  education.  The  three  principal 
speakers  (Carnegie,  Taft,  and  Booker  Washington)  were 
reported  as  advocating  the  education  of  the  Southern  negroes 
to  render  them  capable  of  taking  an  important  part  in  legisla- 
tion in  the  "black  belt,"  as  they  termed  the  Cotton  States.  A 
fourth  speaker  declared  that  the  putting  the  ballot  in  the 
hands  of  the  Southern  negroes  was  right  in  spite  of  the 
ghastly  results  of  the  Stevens-Morton  scheme  of  Reconstruc- 
tion. You  may  say  that  these  were  only  foolish,  idle  words, 
which  could  really  do  no  harm,  because  the  percentage  of 
Southern  negroes  sufficiently  educated  to  be  politicians  would 
always  remain  too  small,  compared  with  the  ever-increasing 
white  population,  to  constitute  an  important  political  factor 
in  the  community.  This  would  be  true,  were  it  not  that  but 
slender  mental  equipment  suffices  for  a  politician,  and  this 
the  mulattoes,  with  the  greater  intelligence  derived  from  their 
white  blood,  could  acquire  and  then,  in  their  own  personal 
interests,  vote  the  negroes  "like  dumb  driven  cattle,"  as  was 
done  during  Reconstruction,  and  in  this  way  hold  the  balance 
of  power  between  white  factions,  and  thus  practically  rule. 
We  have  no  comment  to  make  on  this  further  than  to  say  that 
it  accentuates  the  wisdom,  nay,  the  necessity  of  a  "solid 
South,"  and  tends  to  postpone  the  good  time  coming  when  it 
will  be  possible  to  have  two  legitimate  political  parties  there. 
But  the  point  which  we  wish  to  make  is  this:  A  careful 
student  of  the  statistics  of  crime  finds  that  the  South  as  a 
whole  is  more  law-abiding  than  the  North,  and  also  that  the 
percentage  of  crime  among  Southern  negroes  is  as  four  to 
seven  among  Northern  blacks,  or  not  much  over  half  as  great. 
Such  being  the  case,  we  cannot  help  saying  that  perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  learn  from  the  Southerners  how  to  elevate 
Northern  blacks.  As  announced  by  the  Chairman,  the  thou- 
sands of  dollars  expended  in  the  tour  were  furnished  by  the 
great  oil  monopolist,  who  at  the  time  was  undergoing  legal 
investigation  for  alleged  rascalities,  which  is  regrettable. 
The  chief  speaker  was  the  mammoth  steel  monopolist.  The 
Chairman  himself  possesses  the  confidence  of  all  as  to  his 
intentions.  Another  thing  to  be  noted  is  that,  if  it  is  true, 


206  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

as  they  allege  it  is,  that  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  at  the 
South  is  much  greater  than  at  the  North,  and  as  it  is  proved 
by  statistics,  that  the  percentage  of  criminality  is  greater  at 
the  North  than  at  the  South,  it  follows  that  education  (edu- 
cation, as  they  understand  the  meaning  of  the  term ;  that  is 
to  say,  "the  three  R's"  and  what  accompanies  them )  does  not 
necessarily  promote  morality. 

A  book  has  been  recently  published  by  Mr.  Von  Grabill 
under  the  title  Letters  from  Tuskegee,  in  which  he  alleges 
that  very  grave  irregularities,  and  worse,  exist  in  the  manage- 
ment of  that  institution.  Of  course,  these  charges  will  be 
denied  by  the  management,  and  every  one  will  hope  that  they 
are  exaggerations — most  sincerely  will  those  hope  so  to  whom 
they  do  not  come  as  a  surprise.  The  most  serious  accusa- 
tions, at  least  those  upon  which  most  stress  is  laid,  may  be 
classed  under  four  heads :  "graft,"  sexual  immorality,  incul- 
cation of  social  equality  and  all  that  the  term  implies,  and 
insincerity  in  the  boasted  industrial  education,  of  which  we 
have  heard  so  much  laudation  from  some  sources. 

As  to  "graft,"  its  existence  there  can  be  a  matter  of  aston- 
ishment to  but  few,  for  money  lavishly  subscribed  and  put  at 
the  disposal  of  irresponsible  parties  is  sure  to  lead  to  this. 
Recent  revelations  in  life  insurance,  railway,  banking,  and 
other  circles  conducted  by  members  of  the  Aryan  race  should 
make  us  slow  in  casting  stones  at  the  colored  people  for  sim- 
ilar crimes,  and  if  well-intentioned,  but  badily-informed,  per- 
sons choose  to  squander  their  money  in  ill-advised  subscrip- 
tions, it  is,  perhaps,  only  their  own  concern. 

In  regard  to  sexual  immorality,  we  would  suggest  that  this 
is  too  harsh  a  term  to  use  in  characterizing  the  offense. 
Negro  blood,  by  an  inexorable  law  of  nature,  carries  with  it 
uncontrolable  lust,  and  the  colored  race  is  no  more  to  be 
blamed  for  possessing  this  characteristic  than  for  having 
dark  complexions. 

Of  the  yearning  for  social  equality,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  it,  too,  is  a  universal  inheritance  of  the  blood,  which 
elicits  pity,  not  anger,  from  the  white  man. 

But  the  fourth  charge,  that  the  pretended  industrial  educa- 
tion is  a  "fake,"  a  complete  fraud,  is  very  serious  and 


CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  AGAIN  207 

demands  rigid  investigation,  for  it  is  the  one  subject  of  real 
practical  importance  to  be  considered.  Industrial  training 
pursued  in  a  bona  fide  manner,  with  sensible  methods,  would 
prove  useful  to  both  races;  but  if  it  is  a  "fake,"  as  charged, 
or  even  if  it  is  in  a  measure  a  fraud,  or  inefficiently  conducted, 
it  will  greatly  assist  nature  in  increasing  the  weight  that  the 
colored  race  is  and  must  be  upon  any  community. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  so  little  has  been  said  in  this  book 
about  the  secret  organizations,  which  are  supposed  by  many 
to  have  played  so  important  a  part  during  Reconstruction. 
But  they  did  not  play  at  all  the  important  part  often  attrib- 
uted to  them ;  the  work  was  chiefly  in  the  open.  One  cannot 
approve  in  general  of  the  principle  of  secrecy  in  combina- 
tions, or  think  such,  under  normal  conditions,  justifiable — 
there  is  too  much  risk  of  the  remedy  becoming  worse  than  the 
disease.  There  may  arise  sometimes,  however,  terrible  exi- 
gencies that  justify  secret  associations.  Secrecy  is  the 
weapon  of  the  weak  against  the  strong.  Should  David  tell 
Goliath  beforehand  of  his  sling?  It  is  essential  to  any  organ- 
ization of  a  military  character,  which  without  it  would  be 
ridiculous.  The  people  found  it  necessary  to  make  Hampton 
a  virtual  dictator,  as  they  had  been  compelled  to  confer  sim- 
ilar authority  on  Rutledge  a  hundred  years  before.  The 
American,  whose  birthright  is  liberty,  is  reluctant  to  tolerate 
secrecy,  or  render  unquestioning  obedience  except  in  war. 
But  the  campaign  of  1876  was  war  peacefully  waged  by  cour- 
age, intelligence,  and  self-restraint. 

I  have  now  presented  the  case  of  Reconstruction  to  my 
reader  on  its  merits,  free  from  the  legal  quibbles  of  the  hired 
attorney.  For  his  sake,  for  his  convenience,  I  have  stricken 
out  from  my  brief  unnecessary  details  that  otherwise  would 
have  filled  volumes,  through  which  he  could  not  be  expected 
to  have  the  patience  to  wade.  To  avoid  harsh  personalities 
(for  I  am  for  peace  and  tolerate  "blood  and  iron"  only  as  a 
last  resort,  and  even  then  it  is  a  remedy  often  worse  than  the 
disease),  the  chief  offenders  have  not  been  designated  by  me 
as  such  by  name  (with  two  exceptions) .  But  the  reader  can 
not  mistake  their  identity.  They  are  pilloried  in  the  public 


208  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

records  by  their  own  acts,  those  politicians  who  nullified  Lin- 
coln's testament  to  the  people,  who  destroyed  his  most  cher- 
ished ideals,  his  fondest,  dearest  hopes.  "With  malice 
toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,"  I  ask  only  that  these 
offenders  be  branded  with  eternal  condemnation  in  order  that 
they  may  be  distinguished  from  honest  men  by  those  who 
read  this  book,  and  by  their  children  and  their  children's 
children.  And  surely,  sooner  or  later,  will  they  have  their 
resurrection  from  "bottomless  perdition."  But  they  will  not 
come  in  the  cerements  of  the  grave,  but  clothed  in  most 
"up-to-date"  garments,  "silver-tongued,"  or  smoothly  speak- 
ing "golden  words"  of  sophistry.  But  they  should  be  known 
by  the  brand. 

So,  I  submit  my  little  brief  as  sufficient.  I  do  not  desire 
to  address  the  jury,  confident  its  conscience  will  render  a 
verdict  of  "Guilty." 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  209 


CHAPTEK  NINTH 
DECLINING  YEARS — DEATH 

Suffering !    and  yet  majestical  in  pain  ; 

Mysterious !    yet,  like  spring-showers  in  the  sun, 
Yelling  the  light  with  their  melodious  rain, 

Life  is  a  warp  of  gloom  and  glory  spun. 

— Hayne. 

Unpractis'd  he  to  fawn,  or  seek  for  power 
By  doctrines  fashion'd  to  the  varying  hour. 

— Goldsmith. 

At  the  State  election  in  1878  Hampton  was  elected  to  a 
second  term  as  Governor.  There  was  no  opposition  from 
Democrats:  it  was  on  their  part  virtually  a  unanimous 
plebiscite.  During  the  first  year  of  his  second  administra- 
tion, he  was  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  served  two 
terms.  After  that  he  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Cleveland  Com- 
missioner of  Pacific  Railroads,  which  office  he  held  until  a 
change  of  administration,  and  for  about  one  year  after- 
ward. This  ended  his  public  career,  as  far  as  office  was  con- 
cerned. But  in  the  record  of  his  declining  years  are  found 
unfailing  amiability,  magnanimity,  wisdom,  and  heroism, 
which  endured  as  long  as  life  lasted,  and  which  have  left  a 
sweet  fragrance  about  his  memory  that  will  always  be  present 
to  those  well  acquainted  with  his  story. 

We  have  passed  the  noonday  summit, 

We  have  left  the  noonday  heat, 
And  down  the  hillside  slowly, 

Descend  on  weary  feet. 

I  wish  I  could  quote,  as  appropriate,  the  next  succeeding 
lines, 

Yet  the  evening  airs  are  balmy, 
And  the  evening  shadows  sweet, 

but  on  him  the  "evening  airs"  blew  chill,  and  the  "evening 
shadows"  were  gloomy.  Yet,  with  a  spirit  which  would 
make  no  surrender  to  fate,  with  mind  clear,  memory  perfect, 
and  kindliness,  cheerfulness,  and  attractiveness  undimin- 
ished,  he  lived  his  life  bravely  to  the  end,  and  was  no  less  the 
hero  than  at  the  most  brilliant  stages  of  his  career. 


210  HAMPTON  AND  ^RECONSTRUCTION 

When  elected  to  the  Senate  he  had  not  yet  recovered  from 
a  bad  accident.  He  had  taken  an  outing  in  November  on  a 
deer  hunt  at  some  distance  from  his  home.  It  had  proved 
difficult  to  procure  a  suitable  horse,  and  he  had  contented 
himself  with  a  young  mule  as  a  mount,  being  able  to  ride  any- 
thing. While  alone  in  the  woods,  the  bridle  proved  rotten, 
and  the  head-stall  and  bit  fell  off.  The  wretched  animal  be- 
came uncontrolable,  and  dashing  wildly  through  the  woods 
brought  the  General's  leg  in  contact  with  a  tree  with  great 
violence.  This  occurring  at  some  distance  from  where  suitable 
surgical  assistance  could  be  obtained,  the  injury  was  aggra- 
vated. It  proved  necessary  to  amputate  the  leg  below  the 
knee.  The  delay  thus  caused  in  making  the  operation  pro- 
duced very  serious  complications,  and  for  days  his  life  was 
despaired  of.  During  all  that  time  the  public  hung  over  the 
reports  about  him  on  the  newspaper  bulletin  boards  as  eagerly 
and  anxiously  as  if  it  had  been  a  near  and  dear  relative  whose 
life  was  wavering  in  the  balance.  At  the  Charleston  Club 
private  telegrams  describing  his  condition  were  posted  from 
time  to  time  during  the  day.  In  the  end,  his  magnificent  con- 
stitution, never  enfeebled  by  excesses,  triumphed,  and  there 
was  a  long  breath  of  relief,  and  many  a  "thank  God!"  was 
reverently  uttered.  Nor  did  it  very  materially  interfere  after- 
ward with  his  horsemanship,  and  he  continued  to  be  a  cheer- 
ing sight  when  mounted.  His  health,  however,  was  somewhat 
affected  by  the  local  pain  afterward  experienced  and  by  the 
curtailment  rendered  necessary,  at  times,  of  out-door  exercise. 
But  to  the  end  he  hunted,  and  his  rod  contined  to  be  almost 
as  much  a  resource  as  formerly,  as  it  could  be  used  with  much 
less  physical  exertion  than  the  gun.  To  his  former  captures 
of  the  gamest  fish  he  added  many  trophies  of  tarpon,  when 
that  finny  champion  in  silver-mail  entered  the  lists.  On  one 
occasion,  when  pursuing  sport  with  the  latter,  he  was  beaten 
in  the  day's  score  by  his  companion,  a  lady  of  his  family  very 
expert  with  rod  and  reel,  and  there  was  consequently  a  great 
joke  at  his  expense.  It  was  pleasant  to  hear  during  his  rail- 
road commissionership  of  his  sometimes  landing  some  big  fel- 
lows off  the  Southern  California  coast  and  of  the  interest 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  211 

which  he  would  take  during  the  evenings  in  arranging  tackle 
for  the  next  day's  exploits. 

It  is  necessary  to  refer  to  a  painful  period  of  Hampton's 
life,  because  then  he  exhibited  grand  qualities,  and  without 
notice  of  them,  some  of  the  most  exalted,  as  well  as  most 
lovable  of  his  characteristics,  would  be  passed  over,  but  the 
writer  does  this  with  no  tinge  of  hostility  against  anyone. 
Such  a  feeling  would  be  altogether  out  of  keeping  with  the 
nature  of  his  subject.  Moreover,  there  are  certain  great 
principles  which  are  unchangeable  and  admit  of  no  com- 
promise; which  are  as  imperative  always  as  the  "eleven" 
Commandments;  but  when  you  come  to  apply  those  prin- 
ciples to  practical  cases,  there  often  will  be  room  for  honest, 
and  intelligent  differences  of  opinion.  Besides,  important 
subjects  are  like  mountains  seen  from  different  points  of 
view.  The  man  who  has  always  lived  immovably  fixed  on 
the  east  is  familiar  with  the  contour  as  seen  from  that  side, 
and  thinks  he  knows  all  about  that  mountain,  and  by  what 
trail  to  cross  or  climb :  he  who  has  all  his  life  long  lived  on 
the  west  is  equally  cock-sure  that  he  understands  that  moun- 
tain through  and  through;  and  the  two,  meeting  by  chance 
on  neutral  ground,  are  ready  to  beat  each  other  to  death  to 
prove  the  correctness  of  their  views.  Yet  neither  is  neces- 
sarily either  a  fool  or  a  villain,  but  only  a  narrow-minded 
person.  A  third  dweller  in  the  neighborhood,  who  happens 
to  have  been  repeatedly  round  and  round  the  mountain,  can 
see  that  each  disputant  is  right  from  his  own  standpoint, 
and  wrong  from  the  other  man's :  in  short  that  "heterodoxy 
is  somebody  else's  doxy." 

The  failure  to  be  elected  for  a  third  term  to  the  United 
States  Senate  closed  Hampton's  active  political  career.  This, 
happening  not  at  his  own  volition,  but  like  a  blow  in  the 
face,  would  try  to  the  fullest  any  man's  equanimity.  It 
ended  his  official  influence,  and  took  him  out  of  a  sphere  of 
usefulness  which  had  become  also  during  those  twelve  years 
a  habit  of  life  at  an  age  when,  after  long  years  spent  in  the 
service  of  his  people,  it  was  too  late  to  take  up  other  occu- 
pations. It  forever  put  out  of  his  reach  the  objects  of  hon- 
orable ambition,  which  he  had  always  pursued  to  the  benefit 


212  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  community.  Moreover,  busily  occupied  since  1876 
with  public  concerns,  he  had  had  no  opportunity  to  look  after 
his  private  interests  and  thus  recuperate  in  fortune,  as 
others  had  been  able  to  do  through  improved  conditions, 
which  he  had  done  so  very  much  to  produce.  The  pay  of  a 
Senator  living  in  Washington  is  soon  eaten  up  by  necessary 
expenses.  I  have  heard  of  but  one  human  being  who  ever 
honestly  saved  up  money  out  of  a  salary  in  Washington,  and 
that  one  was  President  Hayes,  and  he  is  said  to  have  done  it 
chiefly  by  giving  his  guests  at  dinner  only  water  to  drink. 
Moreover,  if  Hampton  had  a  cent  in  his  pocket  it  would  go 
out  to  the  first  friend  who  told  him  he  needed  it.  So  it 
was  that  non-election  to  the  Senate  meant  for  him  not  only 
the  end  of  honorable  ambition  and  influence,  and  the  agree- 
able sense  of  being  useful  to  his  people,  but  also  left  him  in 
straightened  circumstances.  This  latter  condition  was 
relieved,  for  the  time  being,  by  the  railroad  commissioner- 
ship,  but  when  that  ceased,  he  was  pretty  much  "high  and 
dry"  in  a  monetary  point  of  view,  and  then  about  eighty 
years  of  age,  though  vigorous  in  mind  and  body. 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  it  was  not  any  of  the  above 
considerations,  or  all  combined,  which  hurt  him  most  griev- 
ously. It  was  the  fact  that  his  people,  so  many  of  his  people, 
all  of  whom  he  loved,  and  who,  as  he  thought  up  to  that  time, 
loved  him,  should  do  this  thing  to  him  in  his  old  age.  It  was 
the  personal  grief  for  this  that  burned  in  so  deeply;  not  the 
loss  of  political  position  and  the  means  of  subsistence.  The 
latter  he  bore  with  a  smiling  face :  no  stoic  more  imperturb- 
able, but  his  was  the  cheerful,  genial  way  of  taking  it.  The 
other  was  a  deep  wound,  a  wound  given  by  a  loved  hand,  but 
it  elicited  no  remonstrance  nor  reproach,  and  left  absolutely 
no  bitterness  behind:  his  heart  was  incapable  of  that.  It 
was  not  done  to  him  from  lack  of  love.  Old  soldiers  came  to 
him  before  the  election,  almost  or  quite  with  tears  in  their 
eyes,  and  swore  they  would  do  anything  in  the  world  for  him, 
except  vote  for  him,  and  that  they  could  not  do,  because  of 
party  fealty.  If  before  his  end  he  could  have  been  sure  that 
his  people,  one  and  all,  loved  him,  as  they  did  "beneath  Vir- 
ginia's sky,"  and  in  1876-77,  poverty,  physical  pain,  and  loss 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  213 

of  power  would  have  been  accounted  but  little.  If  he  could 
have  witnessed  that  grand  spontaneous  demonstration  from 
the  people's  heart  in  Columbia  at  his  funeral,  he  would  have 
known  it. 

Charleston  never  wavered.  The  delegation  from  there 
voted  on  each  ballot  in  the  Legislature  unanimously  for  him 
at  the  election,  save  one  member.  Whenever  he  came  to 
Charleston,  it  was  the  signal  for  an  ovation. 

Let  others  hail  the  rising  sun ; 
I  bow  to  that  whose  course  is  run. 

Always  at  the  railroad  station  he  would  be  met  by  a  detach- 
ment from  the  Charleston  Light  Dragoons,  as  an  escort 
during  his  stay,  a  crack  militia  company,  formerly  a  "sabre- 
club"  during  the  Inferno,  before  that  a  war-company  serv- 
ing under  Hampton,  and  during  the  Revolution  of  1776 
and  previously  a  military  organization.  "Hampton  Day," 
which  was  celebrated  at  this  period,  will  long  be  remembered 
as  expressing  an  outburst  of  devotion  seldom  equaled,  and 
which  had  no  possible  connection  with  politics  and  office- 
seeking. 

As  we  have  said,  it  is  not  the  scheme  of  this  book  to  recount 
Hampton's  political  career  during  the  two  Senatorial  terms 
which  he  served  as  that  would  involve  the  discussion  of 
national  questions  requiring  too  much  space.  But  inasmuch 
as  his  political  course  was  ended  and  the  rest  of  his  life 
darkened  by  the  stand  which  he  took  upon  the  financial  ques- 
tion and  the  subjects  of  minor  importance  constituting  the 
system  of  which  that  was  the  central  sun,  it  would  be  im- 
proper to  avoid  examining  his  record  to  ascertain  whether 
he  was  right  or  wrong  on  that  issue,  and  his  treatment 
of  it  in  reference  to  himself.  If  we  conclude  that  he  was 
wrong,  then,  although  feeling  equal  sympathy  for  the  dis- 
tress caused  to  him,  yet  we  should  consider  that  he  had 
unfortunately  brought  his  misfortunes  upon  himself  by  a 
deplorable  error  of  judgment.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
on  investigation  that  he  was  right  in  acting  as  he  did  and, 
believing  himself  right,  followed  the  dictates  of  conscience 
hand-in-hand  with  correct  judgment,  fully  knowing  the  disas- 
trous consequences  to  himself  which  would  ensue,  then  we 


214  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

must  admire  him  as  an  upright  statesman,  as  distinguished 
from  a  selfish  politician.  In  making  this  investigation  it  is 
not  necessary  to  go  into  local  political  questions,  but  better 
to  confine  ourselves  to  the  great  central  subject,  the  sun  of 
the  system,  finance. 

We  can  now  consider  the  currency  controversy,  as  far  as 
silver  and  gold  are  concerned,  as  definitely  settled,  and  it  is 
so  recent  that  the  details  are  familiar  to  everyone.  Results 
have  proved  that  the  advocates  of  'unlimited  silver"  were 
wrong,  for  what  they  predicted  as  the  consequences  of  the 
adoption  of  the  gold  standard  has  not  occurred.  The  far- 
mer, in  particular,  instead  of  being  ruined  as  foretold,  is 
(as  we  write  this)  receiving  and  has  been  receiving  for  a 
long  time  a  hundred  per  cent,  more  money  for  his  cotton, 
nearly  in  the  same  proportion  for  wheat  and  measurably  more 
for  other  products.  Whether  this  has  been  brought  about  by 
the  adoption  of  the  gold  standard  as  a  definite  cause,  or 
whether  only  because  the  settlement  of  that  "burning"  ques- 
tion has  relieved  the  strain  and  anxiety  existing — without 
justification,  if  you  like,  and  sentimentally — is  an  entirely 
immaterial  academic  question.  Legislation  on  finance  which 
ignores  the  sentiment  of  those  best  informed,  might  be  very 
fine  in  the  abstract,  and  disastrous  practically.  What  is  a 
panic  but  the  result  of  sentiment?  Everything  purchasable 
is  intrinsically  worth  as  much  the  week  after,  as  the  week 
before,  a  panic,  and  there  is  the  same  quantity  of  money  exist- 
ing; but  credit  is  impaired,  sentiment  is  to  the  fore,  and  the 
important  point  for  the  business  man  and  the  farmer  is 
not  intrinsic,  but  market  values,  where  compelled  to  sell. 
It  is  idle,  of  course,  to  argue  against  the  logic  of  facts,  for 
facts  only  are  important.  It  is  quite  easy  to  perceive  this 
now,  that  it  has  hapened,  but  the  difficulty  was  correctly 
to  foresee  it,  and  that  was  the  part  of  a  statesman  to  do. 
Hampton  did  this,  in  spite  of  opposite  opinions  being  held 
by  the  majority  of  his  constituents  on  this  and  related  sub- 
jects. But  was  he  right  by  chance,  or  through  the  exercise 
of  good  judgment?  I  think  it  will  be  found  clearly  to  be 
by  the  latter. 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  215 

The  commercial  life  of  this  country — "business" — is  de- 
pendent ultimately  on  the  agricultural  conditions  and,  there- 
fore, if  they  are  permanently  bad,  "business"  cannot  for  long 
be  prosperous.  Everyone  is  in  "business"  for  purely  selfish 
motives,  to  make  a  support  for  himself  and  his  family,  or  to 
acquire  property.  All  such  persons  can  therefore  be  trusted 
not  to  advocate,  knowingly,  legislation  which,  without  bene- 
fitting  them  exceptionally,  bids  fair  to  injure  the  general 
"business"  situation  of  the  community.  Moreover,  such  per- 
sons must  necessarily  be  better  able  to  judge  what  kind  of 
financial  legislation  will  or  will  not  be  favorable  to  "busi- 
ness" interests  than  will  those  totally  unacquainted  with  the 
subject  in  its  practical  bearings,  however  well  informed 
academically.  What  is  beneficial  to  general  legitimate  "busi- 
ness" interests  must  also,  in  the  long  run,  be  advantageous, 
in  such  a  country  as  this,  to  the  agricultural  interests  upon 
which  commerce — "business" — is  based.  In  a  question  de- 
veloping such  an  angry  controversy  as  that  between  "gold- 
bugs,"  and  "silverites,"  it  must  be  a  man  more  bold  than 
wise  who  would  shut  himself  up  in  his  study  in  order  to 
decide,  according  to  abstract  principles,  which  side  was  in 
the  right;  if  wise,  and  not  a  "know  it  all,"  he  would  obtain 
the  opinions  of  "business  men,"  who  could  have  no  interested 
motive  in  deceiving  him,  and  he  would  give  decisive  weight 
to  such  views.  If  it  were  important  to  obtain  for  your 
guidance  some  practical  information  about  an  agricultural 
matter,  you  would  expect  to  apply  not  to  a  doctor  of  divinity 
nor  a  financier  nor  a  lawyer  nor  a  "business  man,"  who 
had  never  seen  cotton  except  in  bales,  or  wheat,  unless  in 
bread,  but  to  farmers,  who  could  be  depended  upon  to  tell 
you  the  truth  according  to  their  own  knowledge.  The  same 
reasoning  applies  to  finance  as  to  farming,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  comprehend  why  we  should  have  sat  at  the  feet  of  a  lawyer 
and  politician  as  a  monetary  Gamaliel.  I  think  it  was  upon 
these  principles  that  Hampton  acted  in  the  currency  battle, 
and  that  it  was  because  of  this,  and  not  through  chance,  that 
he  proved  right,  and  that  by  doing  so  he  showed  himself  a 
statesman  instead  of  a  political  charlatan.  If  he  had  been 
capable  of  putting  aside  conscientiously  entertained  opinions 


216  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

for  the  sake  of  self-interest,  and  joined  in  that  nightly  intel- 
lectual refrain  once  blazoned  on  banners,  "sixteen  to  one,  or 
bust,"  he  could  have  remained  undisturbed  in  the  Senate 
for  the  rest  of  his  life.  Probably  he  could  have  gained  the 
same  personal  end  merely  by  the  desertion  of  his  friends  and 
by  remaining  non-committal  on  vexed  questions,  but  this  he 
was  also  incapable  of  doing,  not  being  "built  on  those  lines." 

In  short  he  acted  with  wisdom,  found  the  right  path,  and 
unflinchingly  pursued  that  path,  because  it  was  right,  know- 
ing all  the  time  that  it  led  to  the  precipice  of  personal  ruin. 
Of  how  many  statesmen  can  this  be  said? 

In  the  spring  of  1899  General  Hampton  was  engaged  to 
come  to  Charleston  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  a  general 
meeting  of  Confederate  Veterans,  and  was  to  be  the  guest 
while  there  of  a  friend.  Just  at  that  time  his  house,  a  short 
distance  out  of  Columbia,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  fire- 
engines,  caught  fire  and  was  burned  to  the  ground.  All  his 
household  goods  were  destroyed,  nearly  all  his  effects, 
and  almost  every  personal  article  he  possessed,  including 
valuable  papers — original  documents — the  loss  of  which  was 
irreparable.  He  hardly  more  than  saved  the  clothes  which  he 
was  wearing.  It  is  needless  to  remind  the  reader  that  his 
purse  was  also  depleted  before  this.  He  was  at  this  time  in 
his  eighty-second  year.  It  was  feared  that  this  last  mis- 
fortune, added  to  the  burden  which  fate  had  been  indus- 
triously piling  upon  him,  might  crush  down,  more  or  less, 
even  his  indomitable  spirit.  His  friend,  who  had  been 
expecting  him  as  his  guest  at  the  reunion,  wrote  to  him  in 
some  anxiety,  and  received  a  reply  from  which  the  following 
is  an  extract : 

"I  have  saved  some  clothes,  my  gun,  and  fishing-tackle. 
We  are  in  an  outhouse,  quite  comfortable.  If  I  had  only 
saved  my  tent,  I  would  be  all  right." 

To  another  friend,  who  had  written  expressing  the  hope 
that  he  would  make  his  promised  visit,  in  spite  of  his  fresh 
misfortune,  he  wrote : 

"You  see  that  I  know  you  better  than  you  did  me,  or  you 
would  never  have  expressed  a  doubt  about  my  coming  to 
Charleston.  Did  you  ever  know  me  to  keep  out  of  a  fight 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  217 

because  one  of  my  staff  was  ill?  I  shall  fight  the  fight  out  to 
the  end,  for,  as  I  wrote  today,  a  fight  is  never  lost,  until  its 
close." 

The  General  came  to  Charleston,  as  had  been  previously 
arranged,  and,  in  spite  of  being  stripped  of  everything,  ex- 
hibited the  same  dignity,  urbanity,  and  geniality,  as  if 
nothing  unusual  had  happened.  He  met  his  numerous 
friends  and  old  comrades  with  a  pleasure  which  was  unmis- 
takably genuine  and  not  forced.  He  was  never  known  to  be 
more  attractive  and  lovable.  A  genuine  outburst  of  enthusi- 
astic welcome  greeted  his  appearance,  whenever  seen,  not 
only  from  the  inhabitants  of  his  own  State,  but  from  every 
man,  woman,  and  child,  who  looked  upon  the  grand  figure, 
more  grand  to  their  eyes  in  old  age,  bereft  of  everything  but 
dignity,  honor,  and  glory,  than  even  when  leading  victorious 
squadrons,  or  standing  the  champion  and  sentinel  of  a  peo- 
ple's redemption.  In  the  procession  he  rode  at  the  head  of 
the  old  fellows  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and  as  the 
immense  column  passed  along  the  streets  crowded  from 
sidewalk  to  housetops,  a  wave  of  cheers  from  the  throats  of 
men  and  boys,  and  wild  plaudits  from  the  lips  of  women  and 
little  girls,  rent  the  air,  as  his  figure  loomed  up.  A  fine  horse 
had  been  provided  for  him,  but  it  was  high-spirited  and  had 
not  been  exercised  for  several  days,  and  at  the  unaccustomed 
sights  and  sounds  would  plunge  and  rear  in  a  manner  to  have 
disconcerted  many  a  younger  man,  but  Hampton  sat  him 
with  all  the  accustomed  grace  of  a  fine  horseman. 

In  delivering  a  speech  in  the  early  part  of  the  Spanish  war, 
he  recommended  the  men  of  the  State  to  look  to  it  that  their 
quota  of  troops  should  be  furnished  and  of  proper  material. 
Not  that  he  was  in  favor  of  any  but  purely  defensive  wars, 
but  that  war  was  already  commenced — the  country  was  com- 
mitted to  it — and,  besides,  every  breeze  that  blew  from  Cuba 
brought  to  our  ears  the  heart-rending  cries  for  help  from  the 
lips  of  women  and  babes  herded  like  wild  beasts  in  the  death- 
pens  called  concentration  camps.  Little  did  we  think  then 
that  humanity  and  natural  sympathy  for  the  sufferers  there 
would  be  perverted  by  ambitious  politicians  into  a  similar 
war  in  the  Philippines.  Besides,  a  purely  defensive  war  is  not 


218  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

necessarily,  and  should  not  be,  fought  on  our  own  soil,  but  on 
that  of  the  enemy.  If  indeed  "war  is  hell,"  then  let  the  pande- 
monium not  be  at  our  own  doors.  If,  unhappily,  we  are  ever 
involved  in  war  with  England,  for  instance,  it  would  be 
the  dictate  of  common  sense,  as  well  as  of  military  prudence, 
to  transfer  the  theatre  to  Canada.  And  a  defensive  war  may 
very  well  compel  us  to  protect  the  soil  of  these  two  continents 
from  the  aggressions  of  the  buccaneers  of  Europe  attempting 
to  transplant  in  the  Americas  those  antiquated  relics  of  bar- 
barism, imperial  policies  and  standing  armies.  But  God  for- 
bid all  aggressive  wars  for  "trade."  It  will  be  a  sad  day  for 
our  country  if  our  President  adopts  that  programme,  for 
he  is  young  and  knows  not  what  war  really  is,  with  all  its 
unmentionable  horrors,  physical  and  moral.  He  is  brave — 
no  doubt  will  be  found  so,  if  ever  tested — but  it  will  not  be 
he,  but  your  boys,  who  will  die  miserably  in  the  trenches  and 
rot  in  the  hospitals.  This  is  real  war: 

'Tis  a  vision  of  ghastly  faces, 

All  pallid  and  worn  with  pain, 
Where  the  splendor  of  manful  graces, 

Shines  dim  through  a  scarlet  rain : — 

In  a  wild  and  wierd  procession 

They  sweep  by  my  startled  eyes, 
And  stern  with  their  fate's  fruition, 

Seem  melting  in  blood-red  skies. 

Or  this  (referring  to  South  Africa,  the  "Christian  Nations" 
in  China,  and  the  Philippines), 

The  gates  of  mercy  shall  be  all  shut  up, 

And  the  flcsh'd  soldier,  rough  and  hard  of  heart, 

In  liberty  of  bloody  hand  shall  range 

With  conscience  wide  as  hell,  mowing  like  grass 

Your  fresh  fair  virgins  and  your  flowering  Infants. 

What  is  it  then  to  me,  if  impious  war, 

Array'd  in  flames,  like  to  the  prince  of  fiends, 

Do,  with  his  smirched  complexion,  all  fell  feats 

Enlik'd  to  waste  and  desolation? 

The  Spanish  War  was  not  a  real  war  at  all,  whatever  some 
others  may  think  from  experiences  in  one  or  two  skirmishes. 
It  was  merely  a  mobilization,  as  far  as  it  went — a  military 
demonstration — which  had  the  desired  effect,  but  it  was  not 
war.  I  know  of  an  old  soldier  of  four  years'  battles'  teach- 
ings, and  bearing  the  marks  of  the  lessons  engraved  by  bullets 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  219 

on  his  body,  meeting  a  "veteran  of  the  Spanish  War,"  and 
the  latter,  to  make  himself  agreeable,  claimed  comradeship 
as  a  "veteran."  The  old  man  looked  surprised,  and  then 
asked  how  that  could  be,  for  he  was  too  young. 

"I  am  a  veteran  of  the  Spanish  War,"  explained  the  youth. 

The  old  fellow  looked  at  him  for  a  moment  in  astonish- 
ment, and  then  remarked,  in  a  low  tone  to  himself : 

"My  God!" 

Only  those  two  words,  but  they  expressed  a  world  of  pre- 
monition for  the  future  to  the  unknowing  present. 

Shortly  after  the  loss,  a  movement  was  set  on  foot  to 
rebuild  by  public  contributions  General  Hampton's  house 
destroyed  by  fire.  It  was  a  spontaneous  idea  direct  from  the 
heart,  prompted  by  universal  regard  and  sympathy.  The 
General  was  greatly  touched  by  this  evidence  of  feeling,  but 
was  unwilling  that  the  project  should  be  carried  out,  and,  in 
order  to  let  this  be  known  to  the  public,  wrote  the  following 
letter : 
"To  the  People  of  the  State: 

"My  duties  during  the  past  week  at  the  Reunion  in 
Charleston  left  me  no  opportunity  of  expressing  to  my 
friends  my  grateful  sense  of  the  spontaneous  and  almost 
universal  sympathy  shown  by  them  for  the  loss  I  have 
recently  sustained  by  fire.  Let  me  now  assure  them  that  I 
am  profoundly  touched  by  their  manifestation  of  kindness 
and  by  the  proposal  to  rebuild  my  house. 

"But  they  must  pardon  me  for  asking  them  to  abandon  this 
intended  act  of  kindness,  though  the  motives  which  prompt 
it  are  fully  and  gratefully  appreciated.  I  cannot  accept 
from  my  friends  a  testimonial  of  regard  such  as  they  propose ; 
but  the  affection  shown  by  them  in  wishing  to  reimburse  me 
for  my  loss  can  never  be  forgotten,  for  it  is  prized  by  me 
far  more  than  any  gift  from  them  could  ever  be. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  serve  his  State  whenever 
called  on  to  do  so,  and  his  sole  reward  should  be  the  con- 
sciousness of  having  fulfilled  that  obligation.  If  my  fellow- 
citizens  think,  that  I  have  ever  been  able  to  serve  my  State 
in  any  manner,  I  only  discharged  my  duty  in  doing  so,  and 


220  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

I  am  amply  compensated  for  any  services  rendered  by  their 
verdict  of  'Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant.' 

"I  am,  with  heartfelt  thanks  for  the  great  kindness  shown 
me,  Your  fellow-citizen, 

"WADE  HAMPTON." 

This  frank,  manly,  and  dignified  letter  went  home  to  all 
friends  and  neighbors  and  to  the  people  at  large,  and  also 
made  a  strong  impression  at  the  North,  as  evidenced  by  the 
comments  of  the  press.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  say,  however,  that 
the  project  was  carried  out.  It  was  thought  better,  instead 
of  rebuilding  the  burned  house,  to  buy  a  lot  and  erect  a  home 
for  him  in  Columbia,  because  of  his  age  making  it  advisable 
that  he  should  be  nearer  to  his  friends  and  their  personal 
attentions.  In  the  residence  thus  provided  he  commenced 
his  last  sleep. 

During  the  Boer  War  General  Hampton,  like  nearly  all 
Americans,  sympathized  with  the  heroic  struggle  of  the 
South  African  Republics  to  maintain  their  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence. The  New  York  Herald  wrote  a  letter  to  him  and 
to  one  or  two  others  of  the  most  eminent  surviving  officers  of 
the  Confederate  Army,  asking  their  views  as  to  the  best 
course  for  Roberts  to  pursue  in  his  efforts  to  crush  out  the 
Republics.  The  General  replied  that  he  thought  the  best 
thing  Roberts  could  do  was  to  reembark  his  troops  and  take 
them  home  to  England. 

During  the  winter  and  spring  of  1902  Mr.  Roosevelt  gave 
evidence  of  a  desire  to  build  up  a  respectable  Republican 
party  in  South  Carolina  and  some  other  States  where  it  did 
not  then  exist,  owing  to  the  odium  earned  by  the  name  during 
Reconstruction  and  for  other  reasons.  In  pursuance  of  this 
policy,  some  citizens  of  good  standing  in  South  Carolina 
were  induced  to  take  local  Federal  offices  and  it  looked  as 
if  considerable  headway  would  be  made  in  that  direction,  and 
probably  it  would  have  been  so  if  other  considerations  had 
not  caused  a  change  in  the  plans  of  the  powers  that  be. 
Mr.  McKinley's  tactfulness  and  good  nature,  in  connection 
with  other  circumstances,  had  produced  a  profound  and 
widespread  impression  throughout  the  country,  and  by  no 
means  least  at  the  South,  where  his  murder  by  an  execrable 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  221 

assassin  was  regarded  as  a  special  misfortune  to  that  section, 
not  of  course  as  great  as  that  of  Lincoln's,  but  of  the  same 
nature.  There  had  never  been  a  time  since  the  contest  of 
1861-65  when  sectional  ill-feeling  had  apparently  so  entirely 
disappeared  and  when  there  seemed  to  be  so  good  a  prospect 
of  political  affairs  throughout  the  country  resuming  the  nor- 
mal conditions  prevailing  before  the  troubles  of  1861,  and  the 
causes  producing  them,  which  latter  had  for  long  ceased  to 
exist.  Nor  has  there  even  been  a  period  when  race-antagonism 
disappeared  so  completely  at  the  South  since  the  time  when 
it  was  created  by  the  Reconstruction  Acts.  Under  the  move- 
ment started  in  South  Carolina  by  Mr.  Roosevelt,  who  was 
at  that  time  considered  the  heir  to  the  policies  and  good  will 
of  Mr.  McKinley,  it  was  well  understood  that  there  was  to 
be  no  political  miscegenation,  but  that  negrophilism,  as  a 
demagogical  instrument,  should  disappear  from  politics,  as 
sensible  people,  not  seeking  office,  think  it  should  do,  for  the 
good  of  both  races,  particularly  of  the  negro.  It  was  given 
out  that  there  would  be  a  divorce  of  politics  from  the  negro 
(including  an  "a  mensa"  separation).  It  was  understood 
that  Mr.  Roosevelt  agreed  that  men  of  character  accepting 
local  Federal  appointments  would  not  thus,  in  any  sense, 
be  associated  with  negroes  or  mulattoes,  for  that  he  would 
appoint  none  except  whites  to  important  positions,  thus 
recognizing  the  fundamental  principle  of  representative  gov- 
ernment in  selecting  officials  truly  representative  of  the 
individuals  and  the  interests  of  their  constituencies.  He 
certainly  was  believed  to  mean  this,  as  attested  by  those 
whose  assertions  admit  of  no  doubt  but  how  far  this  can  be 
reconciled  to  the  nomination  for  Collector  of  the  Port  of 
Charleston  of  a  mulatto  unknown  to  commerce,  the  writer 
is  unable  to  explain.  It  is  manifest  that  the  immediate  suc- 
cess of  such  a  movement  as  that  referred  to  would  very 
largely,  if  not  altogether,  depend  upon  the  character,  stand- 
ing, and  public  influence  of  the  appointees.  If  General 
Hampton  could  have  been  induced  thus  to  take  office,  that 
would  alone  have  gone  a  very  long  way  to  remove  any  politi- 
cal or  social  discredit  which  might  otherwise  attach  to  those 
doing  the  same  thing,  for  there  were  many  waverers  who  by 


222  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

this  would  be  turned  into  advocates.  There  were  more  indi- 
viduals than  it  can  elsewhere  be  believed  who  would  have  sac- 
rificed their  own  judgment  in  following  his,  having  always 
found  him  right  in  the  end;  and  the  adverse  criticism  of  a 
large  number  would  have  been  silenced,  even  if  they  did  not 
follow  him,  and  the  hostile  comments  of  the  rest  would  have 
been  moderated  out  of  respect  to  the  old  chief.  It  would 
therefore  have  been  a  trump  card  in  the  game,  and  the  game, 
provided  the  national  policies  of  the  party  in  power  could  be 
relished,  or  even  tolerated,  would  commend  itself  to  a  large 
circle,  particularly  among  the  young,  whose  memories  did 
not  extend  far  back.  Beside  the  desire  and  evident  advan- 
tage of  obtaining  General  Hampton's  sanction,  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  kindly  feeling  toward  him,  in  old  age  and 
adversity  stripped  to  the  blast,  played  a  considerable  part 
with  those  conducting  the  programme  and  not  least  with  the 
President. 

I  do  not  use  here  any  information  whatever  derived  from 
General  Hampton,  but,  knowing  his  traits  of  character,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  picture  to  one's  self  the  interview  between 
him  and  the  friend  deputed  to  sound  him  upon  the  subject  of 
his  accepting  the  appointment  of  postmaster  at  Columbia. 
One  can  imagine  the  old  General,  with  clear,  frank,  wise  eyes, 
and  open  countenance,  upon  which  he  who  runs  could  read 
honor  and  good  faith  above  all  else,  sitting  in  his  arm-chair 
in  his  residence,  a  gift  from  the  hearts  of  his  people.  His 
manner,  always  urbane  and  kindly,  would  probably  be 
warmer  than  usual,  as  he  listened  to  the  proposition,  for  he 
would  feel  the  good  will  manifested  toward  himself  in  it, 
combined  with  the  political  purpose,  and  his  reply,  though 
short  and  epigramatic,  must  have  been,  we  can  feel  sure, 
totally  free  from  harshness.  Then  one  cannot  be  at  a  loss 
as  to  the  way  in  which  the  case  was  presented  to  him  and  the 
arguments  in  its  favor:  among  other  things,  it  would  be 
said  how  much  it  would  benefit  the  State  and  the  South, 
thus  eliminating  the  negro  as  the  football  of  politics;  how 
advisable  it  would  be  to  have  two  legitimate  parties  in  the 
State,  thus  removing  all  sectional  friction,  as  was  the  case  in 
normal  times  before  the  War  and  Reconstruction  upset 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  223 

everything:  perhaps,  in  this  connection,  would  be  quoted 
the  lines  of  Burke — certainly  their  purport  would — that,  "He 
that  wrestles  with  us,  strengthens  our  nerves,  and  sharpens 
our  skill.  Our  antagonist  is  our  helper";  then  it  would  be 
urged  that  if  a  respectable  administration  party  existed  in 
the  State  she  would  no  longer  be  always  treated  as  a  badly- 
behaved  step-child,  but  would  enjoy  some  of  the  advantages 
and  favors,  the  bon-bons  and  nice  things  and  kisses  now 
monopolized  by  her  dear  half-sisters,  who  come  in  after 
dinner  so  sweet  in  pretty  frocks ;  then,  too,  natives,  or  legiti- 
mate residents,  would  receive  the  emoluments  of  office, 
instead  of,  as  hitherto,  negroes  and  "carpet-baggers,"  and  the 
State  would  have  a  voice  at  Washington.  He  would  be 
assured  that,  if  he  accepted  the  office,  he  would  not  be 
expected  to  take  any  more  prominence  in  the  movement  than 
he  desired;  it  was  only  his  name  that  was  asked  for.  No 
doubt,  and  with  full  sincerity,  the  pleasure  felt  at  conferring 
so  deserved  an  evidence  of  appreciation  upon  him,  and  the 
greater  pleasure  in  thinking  it  would  increase  the  comfort — 
or,  rather,  remove  the  sordid,  pinching  worries — of  his  old 
age,  would  be  referred  to.  Knowing  the  General,  anyone 
would  be  fully  aware  that  the  latter  consideration  would 
not  influence  his  decision  in  the  slightest;  that,  though  he 
would  give  due  weight — for  the  sake  of  his  people's  good — to 
much  (that  is  true)  in  the  other  arguments,  yet  his  experi- 
ence and  wisdom  had  taught  him  to  "put  not  your  trust  in 
princes,"  and  that  there  are  vows,  other  than  those  of  lovers, 
which  are  "made  to  be  broken."  But  beside  and  beyond  and 
paramount  to  all  this,  we  know  that  he  was  unalterably  op- 
posed to  some  of  the  principal  national  policies  of  the 
dominant  party,  including  mountain-high  protective  tariff 
and  militarism,  and  that,  though  liberal  and  entirely  tolerant 
of  the  opinions  of  others  adverse  to  his  own,  yet  his  were 
unchangeable,  because  founded  on  the  rock  of  conviction. 
Probably,  added  to  convictions,  would  be  the  sentiment  to- 
ward the  other  party  as  one,  though  on  occasions  for  a  time 
erring  in  mental  balance,  which  had  yet  never  been  heartless 
and  criminal ;  had  never  sought  to  degrade,  for  political  gain, 


224  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  cherished  ideals  of  our  race  under  the  veil  of  pseudo- 
philanthropy. 

One  does  not  wonder  at  all,  then,  after  listening  to  all, 
said  judiciously  and  in  a  kindly,  friendly  spirit,  his  answer 
came  unhesitatingly : 

"Please  tell  them  that  I  am  not  for  sale." 

And  yet  he  was  then  in  straightened  circumstances,  and 
the  salary  attached  to  the  office  would  have  made  him  com- 
fortable for  the  rest  of  his  life — probably  would  have  much 
prolonged  it. 

Late  in  December,  1901,  General  Hampton  came  to 
Charleston  to  attend  a  meeting  there — the  last  public  meet- 
ing he  ever  attended — of  the  old  alumni  of  Columbia  College, 
his  alma  mater.  He  was  the  oldest  living  alumnus  there. 
The  reunion  with  so  many  old  friends  was  a  great  pleasure 
to  them  and  to  him,  but  he  took  a  cold  from  which  he  appears 
never  to  have  entirely  recovered.  In  the  following  spring  he 
became  very  ill,  but  bore  up  with  so  much  courage  and  en- 
durance that  it  was  not  until  almost  the  end  that  his  life 
was  despaired  of.  On  the  morning  of  April  11,  he  succumbed. 

To  say  that  this  event  produced  a  profound  sensation 
would  not  properly  describe  its  effect.  In  Columbia,  his 
home,  and  in  Charleston,  his  birthplace,  both  of  which  had 
been  unwaveringly  devoted  to  him,  and  in  many  other  places 
in  the  State  and  in  families  in  the  country,  his  death  was  felt 
as  a  personal  bereavement,  and  among  his  old  soldiers  there 
was  a  still  warmer  hold  of  affection.  At  this  time,  the 
hearts  of  those  who  had  been  estranged  from  him  politically 
went  back  to  their  love  with  a  fervor  of  grief — or,  more 
correctly  speaking,  the  sentiment  always  within  their  hearts, 
now  found  vent  in  deep  and  earnest  sorrow.  Those  for 
whom  the  miseries  of  Reconstruction  had  still  a  vivid  mem- 
ory acclaimed  their  sense  of  gratitude  for  inestimable  ser- 
vices rendered,  and  the  men  intimately  associated  with  him 
in  those  times  wrote  eloquent  and  touching  tributes  to  the 
great  statesman  and  pacificator.  From  other  Southern 
States,  through  the  press  and  otherwise,  poured  expressions 
of  sorrow  and  appreciation  no  less  sincere.  The  newspapers 
of  the  North,  without  an  important  exception,  showed  the 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  225 

common  heart-beat  of  a  people  comprehending,  in  great  meas- 
ure, the  man,  his  noble  character,  and  grand  achievements. 

It  is  a  coincidence,  that  April  11  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
day  in  1877,  when  the  State  House  was  delivered  to  him,  thus 
rendering  into  his  hands  the  last  vestige  of  alien  and  negro 
rule. 

On  the  day  after  his  death  memorial  services  were  held  at 
two  churches  in  Charleston  and  at  the  Exposition  grounds 
(now  Hampton  Park) .  Flags  were  at  half-mast,  even  on  the 
Federal  buildings,  and  many  places  were  draped  in  mourning. 
The  same  was  true  as  to  Columbia.  In  Charleston  the  courts 
adjourned,  and  Saturday  was  observed  by  proclamation  of  the 
Governor  as  a  day  of  mourning,  business  houses  being  closed. 
Public  societies  and  institutions  held  meetings  and  passed 
appropriate  resolutions.  There  were  sympathetic  and  appre- 
ciative utterances  of  public  men  throughout  the  country. 
General  Longstreet  said  of  him  that  he  was  "the  greatest 
natural  cavalry  leader  of  our  own  or  any  other  country." 

Several  days  before  his  death  he  had  a  long  talk  with 
Bishop  Capers.  Among  other  things  he  then  said,  "From  my 
heart  I  forgive  all  my  enemies,  if  there  are  any  men  in  South 
Carolina  who  are  my  enemies." 

His  mind  was  invariably  clear  up  to  twenty-four  hours 
before  the  end,  but  during  the  last  of  that  period  he  was 
unconscious  frequently,  or  seemed  so.  He  said  in  one  of 
these  intervals,  "God  bless  all  my  people,  black  ar^  white." 
Another  time  he  was  whispering  something,  and  the  watchers 
stooped  over  to  listen.  They  caught  the  words,  "All  is 
black — My  children  on  the  field — Heroes  forever!  forever!" 
They  asked  if  he  meant  his  sons,  Preston  and  Wade.  He 
nodded  his  head  in  assent.  They  thought  his  mind  wander- 
ing. Not  so,  it  seemed  to  me.  In  the  moment  of  death,  his 
heart  had  flown  back  thirty-eight  years  and  was  on  the  battle- 
field of  Burgess  Mill  with  his  two  boys,  one  mortally 
wounded,  the  other  he  knew  not  how  desperately,  although 
he  afterward  recovered.  Both  had  been  sent  to  Richmond 
to  the  hospital ;  and  the  night  closed  down  dark,  dismal,  and 
rainy,  as  he  lay  all  the  weary  hours  awake  waiting  for  the 


226  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

morning  to  renew  the  fight,  and  thinking  meantime  unceas- 
ingly of  those  poor  boys  of  his;  and  now  the  father's  heart 
was  with  them  again,  both  dead  now,  he  knows,  but  "heroes 
forever!  forever!"  Or  wrere  they  then  meeting  again  and 
lovingly  greeting,  just  across  the  border-line — who  can  say? 
The  General's  death  could  not  but  be  a  sorrow  to  all  and 
bring  a  keen  pang  to  his  old  soldiers  and  personal  friends, 
and  who,  that  knew  him  at  all,  was  not  among  the  latter? 
But  in  very  truth 

Nothing  is  here  for  tears,  nothing  to  wail, 

and  naught  for 

Dispraise  or  blame — nothing  but  well  and  fair. 
And  what  may  quiet  us  in  a  death  so  noble. 

Yes,  all  this  and  much  more  can  be  said.  He  was  in  his 
85th  year,  weighted  down  with  many  troubles.  It  could  not 
be  expected  that  his  magnificent  vitality  could  much  longer 
remain  unimpaired  and  few  things  can  be  more  humiliating 
to  a  proud,  high-spirited  man,  accustomed  to  tower  above  his 
fellows,  than  the  consciousness  of  seriously  diminished 
strength  of  mind  and  body,  and  this  he  was  spared.  But, 
above  all,  he  died  with  a  consciousness  that  would  compensate 
anyone,  if  need  be,  for  a  death  of  torture,  for  to  him  had  been 
given  to  perfect  a  record  not  only  of  almost  unparalleled  per- 
sonal glory  and  honor,  but  which  would  for  all  time  redound 
to  the  benefit  of  his  whole  country,  and  be  a  lasting  and  price- 
less heritage  to  all,  if  fully  comprehended.  Up  to  middle-life 
he  had  well-performed  the  duties  of  a  man  born  to  wealth  and 
social  and  political  importance,  and  had  illumined  with  a 
light  that  detraction  can  never  dim  the  true  relation  of  master 
and  slave.  In  short,  he  had  fully  come  up  to  the  most  exalted 
standard  of  the  much-abused,  but  very  significant  "grand  old 
name  of  gentleman."  In  a  war  purely  defensive,  he  had 
reached  a  height  in  his  branch  of  the  service  certainly 
exceeded,  if  equaled,  by  none  (attained — if  attained — by  no 
man  but  Forrest).  But  even  this  was  the  least  of  it,  for,  as 
leader,  he  had  proved  that,  with  proper  discipline,  the  saying, 
"war  is  hell,"  is  not  correct  in  the  sense  intended,  and  the 
accepting  it  as  correct  tends  to  blunt  the  public  conscience. 
"War  is  hell,"  as  far  as  the  miseries  of  battle-field,  picket, 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  227 

and  hospital  are  concerned,  and  still  more  for  the  broken 
hearts  at  home.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  war,  for  aught 
save  defense,  is  only  wholesale  murder.  But  the  inferno 
beyond  this  is  within  the  control  of  the  commander,  and 
in  Hampton's  case  this  control  was  inexorably  exercised. 
Amiable  and  kindly  he  undoubtedly  was,  but  no  willful  dis- 
obedience of  important  orders  was  tolerated,  and  therefore 
the  persons  and  property  of  non-combatants  were  sacred  to 
his  men,  as  witness  the  Chambersburg  raid,  the  Gettysburg 
campaign,  and  others.  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  but  one 
occasion  on  which  a  life  of  one  man  of  his  own  (Butler's) 
division  was  lost  through  disobedience  of  orders,  and  that 
occurred  when  a  farmer's  field  was  pillaged  of  corn  to  feed  a 
favorite  horse,  and  the  boy  was  shot  in  the  act  by  the  sentry, 
which  was  a  reminder  to  the  troopers  that  they  were  soldiers, 
not  schoolboys.  In  the  campaign  of  1865  in  the  Carolinas, 
orders  (now  on  record)  were  issued  to  shoot  all  men,  in  what- 
ever uniform  dressed,  found  maltreating ,  women,  or  mali- 
ciously setting  fire  to  inhabited  dwelling-houses,  and  this  was 
done,  and  "hell"  ameliorated  as  to  its  most  demon-like  doings, 
an  example  thus  set  in  the  nineteenth  century  which  the  twen- 
tieth would  do  well  to  follow.  Hampton  demonstrated,  for 
all  time,  that  men  can  be  soldiers  and  at  the  same  time  con- 
scientious, and  that  any  General  can  make  them  so,  if  he 
desires. 

If  Hampton  could  look  back  upon  his  military  record  with 
a  feeling  of  undying  glory  earned  that  would  compensate  for 
a  thousand  deaths,  even  more,  perhaps,  would  his  soul  rejoice 
at  the  end  in,  possibly,  the  greater  glory  won  in  the  battle 
for  peace  in  1876-7,  the  life  and  death  struggle  of  a  section 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race?  In  his  career  in  the  United  States 
Senate  he  knew  that  he  served  his  people  well  and  faithfully, 
and  his  private  life,  after  his  political  career  was  ended,  he 
could  not  but  realize  was  a  model  of  fortitude  and  dignity 
under  great  stress,  as  well  as  of  sweetness  of  disposition  and 
charm  of  character.  Knowing  all  this,  how  could  there  be 
for  him  a  "sting"  to  death?  It  was  simply  an  order  to  the 
great  soul  to  mount  for  the  final  review  of  the  Supreme  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  whose  will  no  man  had  more  thoroughly 
obeyed. 


228  HAMPTON  AND  KECONSTRUCTION 

The  funeral  was  to  take  place  at  Columbia  on  Sunday, 
April  13.  By  his  dying  request,  it  was  not  to  be  a  military 
funeral.  It  proved  to  be  the  largest  gathering  of  mourners 
ever  witnessed  in  South  Carolina,  larger  even  than  the 
demonstration  at  Calhoun's  death.  It  was  estimated  that 
there  were  fully  twenty  thousand  persons  present,  a  consider- 
able percentage  of  whom  were  blacks.  When  it  is  remem- 
bered that  Columbia  was  not  a  large  city,  and  the  distance 
which  strangers  must  travel  to  reach  there,  the  number 
attending  will  be  realized  to  have  been  great.  Special  trains 
were  run  from  Charleston  and  other  points  to  Columbia. 
His  residence,  where  the  body  lay  in  state  all  day  imbedded 
in  the  sweetest  flowers  of  spring,  was  visited  by  thousands, 
and  many  a  pathetic  scene  was  enacted  at  this  last  farewell 
to  the  old  General.  Perhaps,  in  order  to  give  some  idea  of 
the  gathering,  I  had  better  simply  insert  a  letter  written  just 
after  returning  from  the  funeral  and  published  in  the  News 
and  Courier. 

"Like  thousands  of  others,  I  went  to  Columbia  last  Sunday 
to  be  present  at  the  funeral  of  the  General. 

"Hundreds  were  coming  in  by  the  railroads,  and  the  town 
was  full  of  those,  who  had  come  there  from  all  parts  of  this 
State  and  neighboring  States,  and  more  distant  places,  all 
for  the  same  purpose,  induced  by  the  same  feeling  of  respect, 
admiration,  gratitude  to  the  man.  There  could  have  been  no 
selfish,  sordid  motive  for  this — no  trail  of  the  dollar,  or 
political  lust — for  he  died  poor,  to  his  immortal  honor.  Even 
a  man,  whose  name  not  long  since  was  but  a  synonym  for 
political  opposition  to  Hampton,  had  come — to  his  eternal 
credit  be  it  said — to  pay  the  last  mark  of  respect  to  the  Gen- 
eral. 

"Whites  and  blacks  thronged  the  streets,  drawn  together 
by  a  common  sentiment.  Children  dressed  in  their  best,  and 
with  grave,  thoughtful  little  faces,  added  to  the  self-evident 
sincerity  of  the  universal  mourning.  When  the  time  came 
for  the  funeral  procession  to  move  from  the  house  to  the 
church,  where  the  services  were  to  take  place,  it  is  believed 
fully  twenty  thousand  people  were  present.  The  hearse  was 
driven  by  a  negro  with  snow-white  hair,  who  had  belonged  to 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  229 

the  General  ever  since  he  was  born,  and  to  whom  'freedom' 
had  never  meant  estrangement  and  forgetfulness  of  life-long 
kindness  received. 

"In  the  procession  everyone,  men  and  women,  the  richest 
and  the  poorest,  all  walked — a  horse  was  not  to  be  seen, 
except  those  attached  to  the  hearse,  or  drawing  the  carriages 
in  which,  for  obvious  reasons,  the  immediate  family  were 
placed.  There  were  present  old  soldiers  of  historic  renown, 
matrons  and  young  girls.  All  along  each  side  of  the  street, 
as  we  passed  to  the  church,  was  a  mass  of  grave,  sympathetic 
faces. 

"I  did  a  lot  of  thinking  during  that  short  walk.  I  had  seen 
in  my  time  a  good  many  public  functions,  where  so-called 
'tributes'  were  paid  'the  nation's  dead/  but  never  such  a  scene 
as  this,  where  sincerity  was  shown  in  every  face. 

"As  we  passed  by  the  pretty  residences  and  charming 
grounds,  evidences  of  thrift  and  prosperity,  and  remembered 
that  if  it  were  not  a  Sunday,  the  air  would  be  throbbing  with 
the  hum  of  thousands  of  busy  spindles,  I  thought,  if  it  had 
not  been  for  Hampton  in  the  crisis  of  Keconstruction,  these 
things  would  not  now  be. 

"And  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  a  bright  moonlight  night 
many,  many  years  ago,  when,  with  one  comrade  only,  I  rode 
through  the  deserted  streets  of  Columbia,  the  only  sound 
that  of  our  horses'  hoofs,  the  only  sights  naked  chimneys 
against  the  sky,  and  blackened  ruins,  and  I  reflected, that 
was  Sherman's  work,  'War  is  Hell' ;  this  is  Hampton's  work, 
the  peace  of  God. 

"We  entered  the  church,  every  space  of  which  was  filled  by 
those  who  had  come  for  the  common  purpose.  And  flowers 
everywhere,  the  sweet  flowers  of  the  Southern  spring,  taste- 
fully arranged  and  made  into  artistic  garlands  by  the  loving 
hands  of  women.  The  impressive  services  soon  began. 
Bishop  Capers,  a  gallant  and  distinguished  soldier  of  the 
Southern  Cross,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  the  General, 
officiated.  At  times  his  voice  trembled  with  feeling  he  could 
not  repress.  The  chancel  was  filled  with  the  choristers,  girls 
and  boys,  and  their  sweet  young  voices  and  the  solemn  wails 


230  HAMPTON  AND  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  the  organ,  made  the  heart  thrill.    The  very  crucifix  at  the 
altar  seemed  to  shine  with  a  light  I  had  never  seen  before. 

"I  am  not  an  emotional  man — :far  from  it — and  with  Anglo- 
Saxon  shame-f  acedness  of  betraying  any  external  evidences  of 
feeling,  but  I  did  much  thinking.  I  thought  of  Hampton,  my 
beau  ideal  of  a  true  soldier,  in  the  days  of  my  boyhood;  of 
some  of  his  superb  military  movements  in  Virginia,  which  I, 
with  thousands  of  better  men,  had  witnessed;  of  Hampton, 
like  a  paladin  of  romance,  charging  almost  single-handed  an 
entire  company,  killing  three  with  his  own  hand,  chasing  the 
fugitives  within  the  lines  of  their  own  army;  of  Hampton, 
one  misty  morning  at  gray  dawn,  putting  into  operation  a 
consummately  conceived  plan  to  blot  out  with  an  inferior 
force  Kilpatrick's  entire  Cavalry  Corps ;  of  Hampton  sweep- 
ing over  Kilpatrick's  camp  in  a  charge  like  an  avalanche 
from  the  mountains,  the  most  terrible  cavalry  charge,  as 
Kilpatrick  said  in  his  official  report,  that  he  had  ever  wit- 
nessed. 

"Then  I  recalled  Hampton  in  his  glorious  old  age,  shorn 
of  wealth,  deprived  of  political  power  or  influence  in  his  own 
State,  escaping  from  his  burnt  home,  with  all  his  household 
gods  and  comforts  lost,  and  yet  with  undiminished  courage 
and  unfailing  fortitude,  and  always  ready  with  a  charming 
smile  and  handshake  for  the  poorest  of  his  old  soldiers  and 
by  example  thus  exerting  a  wide-spread  influence  for  good. 

"Thinking  of  all  these  things,  I  realized  that  others  too — 
thousands — were  then  having  similar  thoughts,  and  that  the 
memory  of  Hampton  was  a  mutual  bond  between  us  all,  a 
common  ground  upon  which  all  good  men  can  meet  in  sym- 
pathy, whatever  may  be  their  politics.  And  it  seemed  to  me, 
without  exaggeration,  that  the  soul  of  Hampton  was  present 
and  spoke  in  the  music  of  the  organ  his  dying  words,  'May 
God  bless  all  my  people,  black  and  white,'  and  that  'all  his 
people'  should  unite  in  raising  a  monument  to  be  the  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  his  perpetual  influence  for  good. 

"I  was  very  much  pleased  to  learn  after  leaving  the  church- 
yard, that  a  movement  was  contemplated  [which  has  since 
developed  into  action]  to  erect  a  bronze  equestrian  statue  of 
Hampton  in  Columbia.  It  seems  especially  appropriate  that 


DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH  231 

Columbia,  the  Capital,  should  thus  commemorate  the  mili- 
tary immortality  of  Hampton,  leaving  to  Charleston,  acting 
for  the  people  of  the  State  and  of  the  United  States,  to  per- 
petuate by  a  memorial  his  career  as  a  statesman,  who  rescued 
from  destruction  civil  liberty." 

In  the  churchyard,  beneath  a  venerable  live-oak,  sur- 
rounded with  the  flowers  he  loved,  they  laid  all  that  was 
mortal  of  him  to  rest.  Obeying  his  wish,  there  was  no  mili- 
tary pageant,  but  around  his  grave  were  some  of  "the  old 
Division"  (Butler's),  who  performed  the  last  offices  fo  their 
General, 

And  drooping  low  in  solemn  trail, 

All  battle-stained,  and  bullet-torn, 
More  plaintive  far  than  human  wail, 

Hung  banners  oft  in  triumph  borne  ! 

and  from  a  bugle  was  sounded  the  last  farewell. 

Whose  was  the  hand,  that  painted  thee,  O  Death ! 

In  the  false  aspect  of  a  ruthless  foe, 
Despair  and  sorrow  waiting  on  thy  breath — 

O  !  gentle  Power,  who  could  have  wronged  thee  so  ? 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Acquisition  of  Louisiana  Territory 8,  9 

Baker,  Major.  T.  G 38,39,40,  41 

Battles : 

Brandy  Station 41 

Burgess  Mill 55,56,57,58,  59 

Five  Forks,  55,  57,  59  ;  Letter  from  Lee 60 

Gettysburg 42 

Kilpatrick's  Camp 62,63,64,  65 

Manassas 38,  39,  40 

New  Orleans 6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13 

Trevilian . . 46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52 

Board  of  Canvassers  of  the  State 148,  150,  152 

Bond,  U.  S.  Circuit  Judge  Hugh  S 152,  154 

Bradley,  Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court — "Eight  to  Seven" . .    . .  154 

Burgess,  Professor 77 

Burning  of  Columbia 61,  62 

Butler,  Major  General  M.  C. 

At  Trevilian 46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52 

At  Burgess  Mill 55,56,57,58,59,  60 

At  Kilpatrick's  Camp 62,63,64,  65 

Nominates  Hampton  for  Governor 108,  134 

Elected  United  States  Senator 171 

Accompanies  Hampton  to  Washington 193,  194,  202 

Breakfasts  with  General  Lee 21,  22,  23 

Cainhoy  Riots 135,  137 

Cameron,  Secretary  of  War 154,  164,  184 

Cattle  Raid 53,  54,  55 

Chambersburg  Raid 41,  42 

Chamberlain,  Daniel  H. — 

Opinion  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 88 

Governor  from  1874  to  1876 91 

Antecedents 91 

Description  of  a  constituency  similar  to  his 95,  96,  97 

His  account  of  the  condition  of  the  State  in  1876 97,  103,  104 

Vetoes 104 

Whipper-Moses  Judgeship  Incident 105 

Delegate  to  the  Republican  National  Convention 106 

His  "boom" 106,  107,  108 

His  opinion  of  the  result,  if  he  had  been  elected 113 

United  States  troops 118 

Nominated  for  Governor  in  1876 123 

His  letter  to  Grant,  and  Grant's  reply  promising  troops. 126 

Calls  upon  Grant  for  troops,  as  per  agreement 133 

Calls  for  more  troops . .  155 

Seizes  State  House  with  troops 156 

Asks  protection  from  Hampton 157 

"Counted  in"  by  the  bogus  Houses 165 

Title  considered 166 

Cross-examined  by  Senate  Committee 178 


234  INDEX 

Chamberlain,   Daniel   H. — (Continued)  PAGE 

Says  that  he  was  in  personal  danger 189 

Surrenders  State  House 195 

"Colored  race" 79,80,  81 

Conner,  Brigadier  General  James — 

Opinion  of  Hampton 30 

At  Manassas 39 

Nominated  for  Attorney  General 109,  193 

Columbia,  burning  of 61,  62 

Combahee  Riots 130 

Conservatives  appeal  against  Carpet-bag  Constitution 88 

Corbin,  United  States  District  Attorney 133,  150,  178,  197 

Criminal  assaults  on  women Conclusion  of  Chapter  IV. 

Cromwell,  Oliver — 

Military  similarity  in  some  points  to  Hampton 34-35,  114 

Davis,  David,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  U.  S 153 

Davis,  President  Jefferson 65-67,  111 

Dahlgren  Raid 42,  43,  44 

Dawson,  F.  W 182 

Electoral  Commission 153,  182,  186 

"Eleventh  Commandment" 203 

Ellenton  Riots 130,131,  132 

Trials 197 

Executive  Committee  of  the  Democratic  Party  of  the  State 106,  164,  180 

Fayetteville  charge 19,  20 

Ferry,  President  of  U.  S.  Senate 177 

Fish,  Secretary  of  State 167 

Five  Forks — Letter  from  Lee  to  Hampton -60 

Force  Bill — Hampton's  speech 29,  30 

« 

Gettysburg 42 

Ghent,  Treaty  of 8,  9 

Gordon,  U.  S.  Senator  John  B 163,  164,  177,  184,  187,  188,  193 

Grant,  Ulysses  S. — 

Breaking  up  of  Louisiana  Legislature  by  soldiers 102 

Letter  to  Chamberlain  promising  troops  in  1876 126 

Unanimously  endorsed  for  a  third  term  by  Convention  of  the  Republican 

Party  of  South  Carolina 128 

His  desire  for  a  third  term  and  its  influence  on  his  conduct 128 

Furnishes  troops  to  Chamberlain,  as  agreed 133 

Troops 155 

Sends  600  more  troops  to  Columbia 167,  183 

Forbids  celebration  of  Washington's  Birthday 184,  185,  186 

Green,  John  S 91 

Hampton,  Anthony 2 

Hampton,  Frank 42 

Hampton  Legion 37,  38 

Hampton,  Lieutenant  Preston — Mortally  wounded  at  Burgess  Mill. 

Hampton,  Wade,  Lleutenant-General,  Governor,  and  State  Senator.    Birth ....  1 

Descent 1,  2 

At  Millwood 13 

As  horseman..    ..   , 13,  14,  15 

As  hunter 14 

Sportsman 15 

His  reading 16 


INDEX  235 

Hampton,  Wade. —  (Continued)  PAGE 

Physical  characteristics 16,  17,  18 

Cheerful  disposition 18 

Joke  on  a  naked  Federal  prisoner 18,  19 

Charging  at  Payetteville 19,  20 

Joke  on  a  member  of  his  staff 20,  21 

Breakfast  with  General  Lee,  and  joke 21,  22,  33 

With  Lee  in  the  lines 23,  24 

Cotton  planter 24 

His  negroes 24 

Fondness  for  country  life 24 

At  Cashier's  Valley 24,  25 

Fondness  for  children 25,  26 

Personal  kindness  to  a  wounded  trooper  at  Trevilian 26 

Popularity  and  influence  at  Washington 28,  29 

Speech  on  the  Force  Bill 29,  30 

Judge  Simonton's  tribute 30,  31 

General  James  Conner's  opinion 30 

Opposes  slave-trade 32 

Some  points  of  military  similarity  to  Cromwell 37,  38 

"The  Legion" 37,  38 

At  Manassas 38,  39,  40 

Equanimity  on  learning  of  loss  of  property  amounting  to  millions 40 

Made  Brigadier-General  of  Cavalry 41 

Chambersburg  Raid 41,  42 

Brandy  Station 42 

Gettysburg 42 

Made  Major-General  of  Cavalry 42 

Dahlgren  Raid 42,  43,  44 

Commander  of  Cavalry  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 44 

Trevilian  Campaign 46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52 

Cattle  Raid 53,  54,  55 

Burgess  Mill  Battle 55,  56,  57,  58,  59,  60 

Lee's  letter  to  Hampton  at  Five  Forks 60 

Commands  all  the  Cavalry  of  Joseph  Johnston's  Army 60 

Number  of  prisoners  taken  in  campaign  of  1864 60 

His  average  effective  strength  during  campaign  of  1864 60,  61 

Made  Lieutenant-General 61 

The  burning  of  Columbia 61,  62 

Destruction  of  Kilpatrick's  Camp 62,  63,  64,  65 

Number  of  prisoners  taken  in  the  Campaign  of  the  Carolinas 65 

Offering  to  safeguard  President  Davis 65,  66,  67,  68 

Nominated  for  Governor 108 

Letter  to  President  Andrew  Johnson Ill,  112,  113 

Prevents  the  people  from  storming  the  Capitol 157 

His  title  considered 167 

Inaugurated  Governor 168 

Disproves  asserted  desertion  of  Tilden 179,  180,  181 

Proclamation   on   Grant's   forbidding   celebration   of   Washington's   Birth- 
day   185,  186 

Invited  to  a  conference  by  Hayes 193 

Calls  a  session  of  the  Legislature 200 

His  election  to  a  third  term  in  the  United  States  Senate 212,  213 

Financial  wisdom 213,  214 

Letter  to  the  people  after  the  burning  of  his  house 219 

Views  about  Boer  War 220 

Declines  appointment  of  Postmaster  at  Columbia 224 

His  death 224 


236  INDEX 

Hampton,  Wade. —  (Continued)  PAGE 

General  Longstreet's  estimate  of  him  as  a  Cavalry  leader 225 

Funeral 228,  229 

Hampton,  Wade  (Grandfather  of  the  Lieutenant-General ) — 

In  command  of  a  Regiment  of  Cavalry 5 

Commands  Sumter's  Brigade 5 

At  the  battle  of  Eutaw  Springs 5 

Member  of  the  Legislature  of  1783 5 

In  Congress 5 

Major-General 6 

Cotton  planter 6 

Hampton,  Col.  Wade  (Father  of  the  Lieutenant-General)  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13 

Planter 12,  13 

At  Millwood 12,  13 

Millwood  burned  in  1865 .*. 12 

Hamburg  Riots : 126,  127 

Hayes,  President — 

How  made 152,  153 

Declared  elected 182 

Policy 188 

Inauguration 188 

Invites  Hampton,  and  also  Chamberlain,  to  a  conference 193 

Agrees  to  withdraw  troops 193 

Jackson,   Major-General   Andrew — 

At  New  Orleans 6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13 

Won  empire  for  the  United  States , 8,  9 

Among  the  world's  greatest  commanders 11 

His  strategy  and  tactics 11 

Johnson,  President  Andrew 74 

Reconstruction  Acts : 76,  77 

Supreme  Court  decides  it  has  no  jurisdiction 77 

Appropriate  quotation  from  Morley's  Cromwell 77 

Views  of  Professor  Burgess 77 

Nevertheless,  representation  an  inalienable  right 78 

Enforcement  of  Reconstruction  Acts  in  South  Carolina 87 

Hampton's  letter  to  Johnson Ill 

Johnston,  General  Albert  Sydney — 

His  beneficiary  at  Trevilian 27,  28 

His  old  soldiers 27,  28 

Johnston,  General  Joseph  E 60 

Kllpatrick,  General — 

Dahlgren  Raid 42,43,  44 

Camp  destroyed 62,  63,  64,  65 

Kilpatrick's  Camp,  Battle  of 62,  63,  64,  65 

Kimpton,  "Financial  Agent" 174,  175 

Lee,  Major-General  Fitzhugh 46,  52 

Lee,  General  Robert  E. — 

Gettysburg 12 

Breakfasts  with  Hampton 21,  22;  33 

Solicitude,  mother's ..23,  24 

Letter  to  Hampton  about  Five  Forks 60 

Opinion  about  Reconstruction 70 

Legislature — 

Excluded  from  Hall  by  troops 150 

Organized 159 

Spurious  Mackey  House 159 


INDEX  237 

PAGE 
Lincoln,  President  Abraham — 

Character 74  ;  83,  84 

Reconstruction  programme 84 

Louisiana  Territory 8,  9 

Lynching Conclusion  of  Chapter  IX 

Machiavelll — hunting  as  a  topographical  tutor  for  war 31 

Mackey,  E.  W.  M 159,  160,  161,  171 

McClure,  Colonel  A.  K. — Letters  about  Hampton 28,  29  ;  41  42 

Manassas,  Battle  of 38,  39  40 

Morley,  John — Invitation  from :   . .    . .  77 

Morton,  Lev!  P.  (Vice-President)  — 

Hampton's  speech  on  the  Force  Bill 29,  30 

Morton,  Oliver  P 74,106,185,  196 

Moses,  "Robber  Governor"  F.  J 91,  105 

Moses,  Judge 149,  182 

Naked  Federal  Prisoner 18,  19 

New  Orleans,  Battle  of 6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13 

New  York  Tribune  calls  Hampton  "Christian  and  patriot" 32 

"Ogden  Movement" : 204,  205 

\_ 

Packenham,  Sir  Edward 7,8,9,  10 

Patterson,  U.  S.  Senator  J.  J.  ("Honest  John") 124,  137,  194,  196,  197 

Pike,  James  S. — 

Description  of  the  Legislature,  etc 93,  94 

Depravity  of  Federal  officeholders 95 

Prisoners — 

Taken  by  Hampton  in  Campaign  of  1864 60 

In  Campaign  of  the  Carolinas 65 

Rape Conclusion  of  Chapter  IV. 

Representation  an  inalienable  right 78 

Returning  Board ..148,150,  152 

Rifle  Clubs 122,  123 

Proclaimed 133 

Forbidden  by  Grant  to  celebrate  Washington's  Birthday 185,  186 

Roosevelt,  Theodore 114,  218,  220,  221,  222 

Rosser,  Major-General  Thomas  L 49 

Ruger,  Brigadier-General  T.  H 154,  155,  156,  157,  160,  161,  163,  164,  176 

Rutledge,  John 119,  207 

Scott,  Governor  R.  K 90,  91 

Sherman,  General  Tecumseh — 

Burning  of  Columbia .- 61,  62 

St.  Gauden's  Statue 84,  85 

Slmonton,  Judge  Charles  H. — Tribute  to  Hampton 30,  31 

Simpson,  Lleutenant-Governor  W.  D 109,  168,  177 

"South  American  Methods" 155,  157 

Spy,  incident  of 19,  20 

Staff-officer's  muddy  ride 20,  21 

Stevens,  Thaddeus 74,  78,  79,  81,  82,  83,  84 

Strength  of  Hampton's  Corps  in  Campaign  of  1864 60 

Supreme  Court  of  United  States — 

Decides  itself  without  jurisdiction  in  cases  arising  under  the  Reconstruc- 
tion Acts,  and  therefore  unable  to  safeguard  the  liberty  of  the  citizen . .  77 

Appropriate  quotation  from  Morley's  Cromwell 77 


238  INDEX 

PAGE 

"Telepathic  violence" 123,  126,  127,  128,  139 

Thompson,  Ex-Governor  Hugh  S. — 

Tribute  to  Hampton . . 29,  30 

Tilden,  Samuel  J 153,  179,  180,  181 

Trevilian,  Battle  of 46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52 

Tuskegee,  reports  about 206 

Wallace,  U.  S.  Marshal 130,  137,  138 

Wheeler,  Major-General  Joseph 61,  63,  64 

Whipper,  negro  Judge 105 

Willard,  Justice  of  Supreme  Court  of  South  Carolina 149,  183 

Whittemore,  "Cadet-broker" 171,  172,  202 

Wright,  negro  Judge 150,  183 


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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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JUL  1  9  1963 


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ID-URL: 

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1965 


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1968 
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